Andy is new crime chief
CONSERVATIVE candidate Andrew Snowden has won the election to become the Lancashire Police and Crime Commissioner for the next four years.
The contest went to a second round after none of the candidates secured a majority of votes on first preferences.
Mr Snowden, who is from East Lancashire, beat Labour’s incumbent Clive Grunshaw, who has held the £86,700 a year job since it was created in 2012, by less than 10,000 votes.
The final vote gave Mr Snowden 181,354 votes to Mr Grunshaw’s 172,362 after remaining candidates Liberal Democrat Neil Darby and the Reform UK Party’s Mark Barker were eliminated. Their second preference votes were then distributed among the remaining two contenders.
On the first preferences Mr Snowden received 166,202 votes to Mr Grunshaw’s 154,195. Mr Darby got 32,813 and Mr Barker 17,926.
Mr Snowden said he was “overwhelmed” at the scale of his support.
He said: “It is a huge job of work and I am looking forward to getting on with it. We need a more visible police presence on the street and that does not just mean in our towns and cities but in our rural areas, to tackle ballooning crime and anti-social behaviours in those rural and remote communities.
“I intend to be out about in our communities to ensure that I now the problems and can make them safer.”
In the campaign, Mr Snowden’s key priorities for the role included ensuring every district has at least one police front desk where people can speak to officers directly, and a focus on reducing reoffending.