Local elections: Middlesbrough Labour’s Chris Cooke elected mayor

Labour has won a mayoral election in Middlesbrough with a result “beyond our expectations”, in a victory that saw Chris Cooke elected in the North Yorkshire town.

The victory will be seen as a positive sign for leader Keir Starmer’s efforts to claw back support in a string of traditionally Labour areas in the North and Midlands.

A party spokesperson said:  “This is an huge result and beyond our expectations. Taking this back from independents who won it with 59% of the vote in 2019 shows exactly the kind of progress we needed to make in Teesside.”

The previous independent mayor Andy Preston had come to power in 2019 with a huge victory over another Labour candidate, winning more than 17,000 votes to his rival’s near-7,000.

But Preston’s vote share slid significantly and Cooke gained by several thousands votes compared to Labour’s previous candidate.

Experts at the Local Government Intelligence Unit had said previously winning the directly elected mayoralty post would be a “more difficult prospect” for Labour than retaking the council overall.

Read more on the local elections:

• Latest updates: Labour councils won, held and lost
• Labour win overall control in key target council Stoke
• Labour wins majority control of Medway for first time
• Local elections: ‘Seismic’ Labour win in bellwether Plymouth council
• Labour becomes largest party in Bolton but not in overall control
• Labour bruises the Tories in North West Leicestershire, Hartlepool, Tamworth
• What would good local election results look like for Labour?