Houchen and Street in ‘political earthquake’ for Tories

CONSERVATIVE BEN Houchen pulled off one of the biggest shocks of the local elections as he became the first metro-mayor for Tees Valley.

The metro-mayor posts, created as part of devolution deals moving powers away from London, were expected to be dominated by Labour.

But wins for Mr Houchen and fellow Conservatives Andy Street, the former John Lewis boss, in the West Midlands, Tim Bowles in the West of England and James Palmer in Cambridge and Peterborough only added to the local election misery for Labour.

Labour’s Steve Rotheram and former Health Secretary Andy Burnham took the remaining metro-mayoral seats for the Liverpool City Region and Greater Manchester respectively.

Celebrating his victory, Mr Street said: “Make no bones about it, the West Midlands has made a decisive choice today in what is the youngest and the most diverse part of Britain, we have chosen a path of future success and that path will be the blueprint for the rest of the country to follow.”

Mr Houchen beat Labour’s Sue Jeffery with a majority of 2,178 after second-preference votes were counted.

He said: “What we have seen in recent years is fantastic trends towards the Conservatives across the Tees Valley and today is, I believe, a tipping point.

“We have seen a political earthquake that’s happening right here for the Conservatives across the North East. It’s the first time anybody would expect a Conservative mayor for the Tees Valley and it is the start of five genuine target seats for the Conservatives in the upcoming General Election, and I genuinely believe this is a starting point for turning the Tees Valley blue.”

Asked what the message was for Mr Corbyn from the result, Ms Jeffrey said: “We need to talk to people about the disinvestment in the health service and the disinvestment in schools, the fact that our services have been decimated at local level, and make sure they know about that.”