Andy Street re-elected for Tories in West Midlands
ANDY STREET, the Conservative mayor of the West Midlands, has been elected for a second term in office in another day of ballot box success for the Tories.
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 last night added 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 in the West Midlands. The Labour candidate, Liam Byrne, took 46 per cent.
The result sees Mr Street take an increased lead on the knife-edge 0.4 per cent majority he won in 2017.
Yesterday’s voting went to a second round, after Mr Street secured 48 per cent of first-preference ballots. The system used for mayoral elections requires candidates to secure half of votes cast on first or second preference.
Other candidates were Jenny Wilkinson from the Liberal Democrats, Pete Durnell from Reform UK and Steve Caudwell from the Greens.
Results from local council and police and crime commissioner elections are still being declared across the UK.
Many other ballots, including the mayoral race for West Yorkshire, are not expected to report until later today.
In West Yorkshire, the first ever mayor will be declared today, while in London Labour’s Sadiq Khan last night looked set to return for another term following a lacklustre campaign from the Tories’ Shaun Bailey.
Mr Street used much of 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, Mr Street 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 with almost nine million people represented by the Mayor of London.