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Local Elections Live 2024: Jubilant Keir Starmer celebrates Labour by-election victory at rally - as Tories topple
2 May 2024, 20:33 | Updated: 3 May 2024, 09:57
Ballots are being counted after a swathe of local and mayoral elections across England and Wales.
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Over 2,600 council seats across 107 local authorities in England are up for grabs, along with ten high-profile mayoral races in major cities and regional authorities. Londoners will also elect 25 Assembly members.
Separately, 37 police and crime commissioner roles will be decided upon across England and Wales through today's balloting.
Labour won the by-election in Blackpool South, with it becoming the third biggest swing from the Conservatives to Labour since the Second World War.
Polling expert professor John Curtice said: “We’re probably looking at certainly one of the worst, if not the worst, Conservative performance in local government elections for the last 40 years.”
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Who is Richard Parker? The new West Midlands mayor explained
Richard Parker, originally from Bristol and was raised by a dock worker and school secretary.
He left school at 16 and went straight into work at a local port authority.
He went on to get a degree in economics before becoming a public finance accountant and joining the professional services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in 1989.
He eventually worked his way up to become a partner at PwC in 2006 and the company's lead on housing and communities.
He has been a Labour Party member for 35 years and managed PwC's relationship with the party's frontbench between 2010 and 2015.
Andy Street owns loss, insisting it is not Rishi Sunak's fault
"It was my campaign seven years ago and it is my campaign now...we didn't persuade enough people," Andy Street said.
Keir Starmer hails 'phenomenal' result in West Midlands
Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, said: “This phenomenal result was beyond our expectations. People across the country have had enough of Conservative chaos and decline and voted for change with Labour. Our fantastic new mayor Richard Parker stands ready to deliver a fresh start for the West Midlands.
“My changed Labour party is back in the service of working people, and stands ready to govern. Labour will turn the page after fourteen years of Tory decline and usher in a decade of national renewal. That change starts today.”
'Not meant to be', Street says in short speech
“In the end it was not to be but that doesn’t mean I appreciate that trust any less,” Andy Street says.
“It has of course been my honour to serve and to lead this place for the last seven years. I hope I’ve done it with dignity, and integrity, and I hope I’ve bequeathed to Richard [Parker] a Combined Authority and indeed a role to which young, aspiring leaders will want to aspire one day.
“In a sense, I could have done no more. It has been a great privilege, but for now I want to say thank you and goodnight.”
‘We both have the best interests of the West Midlands at heart’
Labour's Richard Parker hailed the Tories' Andy Street for having “led this region through a number of challenges, and you deserve great credit for that.”
“You deserve credit for building up the Combined Authority into the powerhouse it is today, through the economic shocks and leading this region through Covid... I absolutely believe that while our politics are different, Andy, we both have the best interests of the West Midlands at heart,” he added.
Labour candidate won by 1508 votes
Richard Parker has been named as the new West Midlands mayor with 225,590 votes.
Andy street came in second with 224,082 votes - just 1508 less than Mr Parker.
Independent candidate Akhmed Yakoob, who came in third with 69,621 votes.
Elaine Williams, Reform UK, won 34,471 votes.
Siobhan Harper-Nunes, with the Greens won 31,036 votes.
Labour officially topple the Tories in the West Midlands
Labour's Richard Parker has officially been declared as the new mayor of the West Midlands.
He has beaten Andy Street by 1,508 votes in a major upset.
Declaration imminent
Andy Street and Richard Parker heading for the stage.
Jonathan Ashworth hails 'tremendous victory'
Shadow cabinet minister Jonathan Ashworth has hailed Labour's 'tremendous victory'.
Labour MP congratulates Richard Parker ahead of declaration
Labour are certainly confident that they have done enough to unseat Andy Street.
Elle Reeves, MP for Lewisham East and Penge, took to Twitter to congratulate candidate Richard Parker.
