Local elections results – live: Labour win in West Midlands and London as Sunak facing fresh rebellion
Labour’s Sadiq Khan secures third term as Mayor of London, beating Conservative Susan Hall
Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox
Get our free View from Westminster email
Rishi Sunak is facing fresh Conservative unrest after Labour claimed victory in the West Midlands mayoral election, beating Andy Street in a tight race.
The newly elected mayor, Richard Parker, secured a majority against his Conservative opponent who has served two terms and held office since 2017.
The result is the latest in a string of Labour mayoral and council wins nationwide as the Conservatives suffered historic blows. “I don’t think he’s out of the woods,” a former minister told the Financial Times, referring to Mr Sunak’s position.
Meanwhile, Labour’s Sadiq Khan secured a third term as Mayor of London beating Conservative Susan Hall.
Mr Sunak also suffered terrible losses in council elections as the Conservatives lost more than 400 councillors and control of ten councils.
State of play
Total no of councils - Lab 50 (+8) | Lib Dem: 12 (+ 2)| Con: 6 (-10) | Ind & Others: 1 (+1) | Greens: 0 | NOC: 36 (-1)
Councillors - Lab 1,140 (+185) | Lib Dem: 521 (+104) | Con: 513 (-473) | Ind & Others: 228 (+93) | Green: 181 (+74) | RA 48 (+11) | Workers Party of Britain 4 (+4) | Reform 2 (+2)
Full story: Tory mayor Andy Street loses tight West Midlands race in new blow to Sunak
Tory mayor Andy Street has been defeated in the crucial battle for the West Midlands in a result that has left Rishi Sunak’s premiership hanging by a thread.
The shock defeat follows a difficult campaign for the Tories amid narrowing polls and party turmoil with increasing questions over the prime minister’s leadership and Labour left to boast that the victory in the West Midlands will herald a “wipeout” of Tory MPs in the general election.
Read the full story below:
Tory mayor Andy Street loses tight West Midlands race in new blow to Sunak
Tory mayor Andy Street loses tight West Midlands election leaving Rishi Sunak’s leadership in crisis
Sunak defiant in taking ‘fight to Labour’ despite poll snub
Prime minister Rishi Sunak admitted it was “disappointing” that Andy Street lost from West Midlands, but insisted the country was “turning a corner”.
Labour’s Richard Parker defeated Conservative Street to become West Midlands Mayor by just 1,508 votes – 0.25 per cent.
“It’s been disappointing of course to lose dedicated Conservative councillors and Andy Street in the West Midlands, with his track record of providing great public services and attracting significant investment to the area, but that has redoubled my resolve to continue to make progress on our plan,” Mr Sunak said in a statement.
“So we will continue working as hard as ever to take the fight to Labour and deliver a brighter future for our country.”
Richard Parker: Who is the new mayor for the West Midlands?
Labour’s West Midlands mayor, Richard Parker, is 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 has lived in the West Midlands since 1985.
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.
In an interview with BirminghamLive earlier this year, he claimed he never really wanted to be an accountant and said: “People from backgrounds like me will understand this but what I wanted more than being an accountant was the security of a professional qualification. I felt it would give me some control.”
He has been a Labour Party member for 35 years and managed PwC’s relationship with the party’s frontbench between 2010 and 2015.
In April 2023, he was selected as Labour’s candidate for West Midlands mayor over Birmingham City councillor Nicky Brennan.
The Labour candidate successfully unseated Andy Street on Saturday, winning by 1,508 votes and ending the Tory’s seven-year stint in the city.
Susan Hall elected to London Assembly
Five Conservatives were elected to the London Assembly in the city-wide top-up list, including defeated mayoral candidate Susan Hall, and Lord Shaun Bailey, who was beaten by Sadiq Khan in 2021.
Emma Best, Andrew Boff and Alessandro Georgiou were also elected, along with Greens Sian Berry, Caroline Russell and Zack Polanski, and Elly Baker (Labour), Hina Bokhari (Liberal Democrat) and Alex Wilson (Reform UK).
Labour had 951,056 votes in the London-wide contest (38.40%), with the Conservatives on 648,269 (26.17%), Greens 286,746 (11.58%), Lib Dems 215,682 (8.71%) and Reform UK 145,409 (5.87%).
The Labour majority was 302,787 (12.23%) and there was a 2.41% swing from Conservative to Labour.
The result means the political make-up of the assembly is Labour, 11, Conservatives, eight, Greens three, Lib Dems two and Reform UK one.
Richard Parker calls for general election
Richard Parker said people “up and down the country” are calling for a general election.
He said: “Up and down the country people are looking for a fresh start; I hope the Prime Minister is watching as well, because if you haven’t heard Rishi Sunak, our people are calling for a general election.
“I will get this region’s future back, and a Labour mayor working with a Labour government will help get Britain’s future back.”
West Midlands results in full
Labour’s Richard Parker defeated Conservative Andy Street to become West Midlands Mayor by just 1,508 votes – 0.25%.
He secured 225,590 votes with Mr Street on 224,082 and Akhmed Yakoob (Independent) on 69,621 (11.66%).
Elaine Williams (Reform) secured 34,471 votes (5.77%), while Siobhan Harper-Nunes (Green) was on 31,036 (5.20%) and Sunny Virk (Lib Dem) was last on 12,176 (2.04%) – with the turnout 29.57%.
Andy Street warns party not to drift to right
Conservative candidate for the West Midlands mayoralty Andy Street has warned the party not to drift to the right and that “winning from the centre ground is what happens”.
After his defeat was announced, Mr Street told Sky News “it was my campaign, I ran it my way” and said he is “proud of how we’ve build this brand of conservatism here”.
He said: “The thing everyone should take from Birmingham and the West Midlands tonight is this brand of moderative, inclusive, tolerant conservatism, that gets on and delivered, has come within an ace of beating the Labour Party in what they considered to be their backyard – that’s the message from here tonight.”
Asked if he is worried the party is drifting to the right and over-emphasising the threat from Reform UK while “ignoring other voters”, he said: “I would definitely not advise that drift.
“The psychology here is really very straight forward isn’t it: this is the youngest, most diverse, one of the most urban places in Britain and we’ve done, many would say, extremely well over a consistent period.
“The message is clear: winning from that centre ground is what happens.”
Starmer hails political history made in West Midlands
Sir Keir Starmer said the West Midlands mayor poll result was a vindication of hard work, adding: “It was always going to be tight – you had an incumbent mayor who was distancing himself from the Government.
“We have never won this mayoralty before. But, look, where we have not been able to persuade people that might otherwise have voted Labour – it is important for me to acknowledge that and say I’ve heard.”
Calling for a general election as soon as possible, Sir Keir added that the Labour Party was a party of service, while the Tories represented chaos.
He said of the people of the West Midlands: “We have shown that our values are their values. We humbly asked them to put their trust and confidence in a changed Labour Party and they did.
“And that is a significant piece of political history that we’ve made here today.”
Sunak insists plan is ‘working’ despite catastrophic losses
Rishi Sunak admitted it was “disappointing” that Andy Street lost, but insisted the country was “turning a corner” and that his party’s plan “is working”.
In a statement, the Prime Minister said: “After a tough few years in the aftermath of the pandemic and the war in Ukraine, we as a nation are turning a corner. Our plan is working with inflation more than halved, tax cuts worth an average of £900 hitting people’s pockets, state pensions protected with our triple lock, our Rwanda bill signed into law, allowing us to start detaining illegal migrants ready for the first flights, legal migration down and defence spending boosted. We Conservatives understand the priorities of the British people and are delivering on them.
“It’s been disappointing of course to lose dedicated Conservative councillors and Andy Street in the West Midlands, with his track record of providing great public services and attracting significant investment to the area, but that has redoubled my resolve to continue to make progress on our plan. So we will continue working as hard as ever to take the fight to Labour and deliver a brighter future for our country.
“It is as clear that Labour just don’t have a plan. They have no plan to defend our nation, no plan to stop the boats and no plan to grow the economy. They are a soft touch and would take us back to square one.
“So by sticking to the plan we will secure our borders, grow the economy and create opportunities so everyone in this great country can thrive and prosper.”
More results to come tomorrow
All election results for Saturday have now been declared, with the final three due on Sunday.
They are Salford Council and Kent and Sussex police and crime commissioners, with the results all due in the afternoon.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies