Labour paints new metro mayor map red with fresh leaders despite Tees loss

Labour has won two newly created regional mayoral posts in the north of England and declared it has won another in the East Midlands, despite facing a setback in Tees Valley.

The party notched up victories in the North East mayoral election and in York and North Yorkshire – an area that covers Rishi Sunak’s constituency of Richmond.

The wins turn the increasingly sprawling map of metro mayoral areas nationwide increasingly red, despite the party’s Chris McEwan falling short of dislodging Tory Tees Valley mayor Ben Houchen.

Kim McGuinness in the North East won convincingly over independent candidate Jamie Driscoll, despite recent polling forecasting a close race between the two.

Meanwhile, in York and North Yorkshire, David Skaith defeated his Conservative rival Keane Duncan by an almost eight-point margin.

A Labour spokeswoman described the victory as a “truly historic result” and said: “Keir Starmer’s Labour Party is now winning in Rishi Sunak’s backyard.

“The Prime Minister’s own constituents have taken a look at the two parties and chosen Labour.”

Labour has also claimed victory in the East Midlands mayoral race, defeating Conservative MP for Mansfield Ben Bradley.

Former Labour MP Claire Ward won comfortably against the Conservatives, with a party spokeswoman describing the East Midlands as the “beating heart of the general election battleground”.

The authority that the mayor will oversee includes more than a dozen key parliamentary battleground seats, including Bolsover, Bassetlaw and South Derbyshire.

However, Labour missed out on ousting Conservative mayor Ben Houchen in Tees Valley, who secured a third term in office.

Houchen won 53.6% of the vote, down almost 20% on the last mayoral election, while Labour’s Chris McEwan secured 41.3% – up just over 14% on the 2021 result.

Despite the result, Labour highlighted the large swing in the mayoral race and said that such a swing would wipe out Conservative MPs in the region, including the Redcar, Hartlepool and Darlington constituencies.

A Labour source said: “The Conservatives should be extremely worried that their candidate had to run as an independent to win.

“If Rishi Sunak doesn’t take this result as a major wake up call he is in denial.”

See more coverage of the 2024 local elections here.

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