Conservative mayor Ben Houchen re-elected in Tees Valley after seeing off Labour challenge
3 May 2024, 12:00 | Updated: 3 May 2024, 12:44
Conservative incumbent Ben Houchen has been re-elected as mayor of the Tees Valley.
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Labour sources admitted earlier that their party's candidate Chris McEwan had lost the race, but claimed that Mr Houchen had run as a "pseudo-independent".
Lord Houchen said: "I am absolutely humbled by everybody that voted for me."
He added: "To be re-elected for a third term in my home, in my community, is absolutely the greatest honour that anybody could ever give me."
Lord Houchen said earlier this week that "there are lots of people who will come up to me... that say that they’re going to vote for me, but they probably won’t be voting for the Conservative Party in the general election."
A Labour source also claimed that the party was "on track to achieve the 12.5% swing in the region it needs to win back [parliamentary] seats here."
In Redcar, Lord Houchen polled 15,987 votes against 12,015 for Labour candidate Chris McEwan and 1,639 for Liberal Democrat Simon Thorley.
The sitting mayor polled 10,074 in Hartlepool compared with 8,732 for Mr McEwan and 972 for Mr Thorley.
In Middlesbrough, the Tory polled 13,285 over Mr McEwan, who had 12,749 and 1,390 for Mr Thorley.
Lord Houchen, who has been mayor since 2017, retained the mayoralty with over 72% of the vote in 2021.
It is the first major bright spot for the Conservatives, in a set of election results that has so far been the Tories' worst local performance for 40 years, according to polling experts.
James O'Brien asks how Tories have gone from 'world-beating election results to carnage'
Elections commentators have warned the Conservatives could be on course to lose 500 seats.
The Tories have lost control of several local councils and dozens of seats so far, as well as the Blackpool South by-election.
Sir Keir Starmer hailed a "historic" campaign in Blackpool South after the victory.
He said: "This was directly to Rishi Sunak to say we're fed up with your decline, your chaos, and your division, and we want change. We want to go forward with Labour."
Sir Keir added: "This is a good set of results for us, and there's no denying that the mood of the country now is for change, and I think it's for the prime minister to allow the country to express that change now in a general election."
He added: "That wasn't just a little message, that wasn't just a murmur, that was a shout."
