West Midlands re-elects Tory mayor Andy Street
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The Conservative mayor of the West Midlands, Andy Street, has been elected for a second term in office with 54 per cent of the vote.
Mr Street, a former managing director of John Lewis, has been the region’s metropolitan mayor since the office was created in 2017.
His re-election adds to the Labour Party’s woes across the North of England and Midlands following the “Super Thursday” elections that saw the Tories take Hartlepool in a historic by-election win.
Mr Street took 54 per cent of the vote, compared to 46 per cent for Liam Byrne, the Labour candidate.
The voting went to the second round, after Mr Street secured 48 per cent of the vote in the first round.
The system used for mayoral elections requires candidates to secure half of votes cast on first or second preference.
Results from local council and police and crime commissioner (PCC) elections are still being declared across the UK.
Many including the mayoral race for West Yorkshire, are not expected to report until Sunday.
Other metropolitan mayoral elections include West Yorkshire, where locals will elect their first ever mayor, and London, where Labour’s Sadiq Khan looks set to return for another term following a lacklustre campaign from the Tories’ Shaun Bailey.
Mr Street has used his four year term as West Midlands mayor to campaign for the continuation of HS2, after Boris Johnson launched a review that could have scrapped the project.
As a Tory politician in the Midlands, which is seen as a growth area for the Conservatives, he is popular in Downing Street and held up by the party as an example of its increasing appeal to non-traditional voters.
At this year’s election, Mr Street campaigned on a promise to bring more investment to the West Midlands and “restore pride to the area”.
The West Midlands mayor represents around three million people in Birmingham, Coventry, Solihull and the Black Country, compared to almost nine million people represented by the Mayor of London.
Sir Keir Starmer has promised he will “carry the can” for his party’s losses across the UK at the local and regional election.
