Tory Andrew is new crime chief after close vote
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 Rossendale, 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 two had been neck and neck on first preference votes.
Mr Snowden said: “I am just overwhelmed to have been supported by 181,000 people across Lancashire.
“That is the most votes a Police and Crime Commissioner in the county has ever received.
“I have talked a lot in the campaign about tackling crime, getting tough on criminals and putting more bobbies for Lancashire and that is what I intend to do.
“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.
“People have also said the commissioner has been invisible but I intend to be out about in our communities to ensure that I now the problems and can make them safer.”
The final vote gave Mr Snowden 181,354 votes to Mr Grunshaw’s 172,362 after the remaining two candidates Liberal Democrat Neil Darby and the Reform UK Party’s Mark Barker had been eliminated.
Their second preference votes were then distributed among the remaining two contenders.
On the first preferences Mr Snowden received 166,202 votes - 44.8 per cent of those cast. Mr Grunshaw secured 154,195 votes - 41.5 per cent.
Liberal Democrat candidate Neil Darby got 32,813 (8.8 percent) while the Reform UK Party’s Mark Barker got 17,926 (4.8 per cent).
The turnout across Lancashire in the PCC election was 33.7 per cent.
The results were collated at King George’s Hall in Blackburn.
In the build-up to the election, Mr Snowden set out his key priorities for the role, including establishing a more constructive relationship with the government to secure benefits for the police and public in Lancashire, ensuring that every district area of the county has at least one police front desk where people can speak to officers directly, and a focus on reducing reoffending involving crimes such as burglary.
Mr Snowden, who had hosted the Home Secretary Priti Patel in the county during the final fortnight of his campaign, had said: “First and foremost, we need to work with the government to get the best for Lancashire, rather than continuously working against them.
“People in rural communities say they are more isolated and there is less chance of a police officer just happening to be nearby if a serious crime is committed – they feel very vulnerable.”