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The electorate went to the polls in England and Wales last week to vote for Police and Crime Commissioners, and while Labour now holds the majority of PCC positions, the turnout was low and in Wales didn’t go over 18 per cent in any of its four PCC areas.
The election of 37 PCCs and five mayors who have PCC functions as part of their remit took place on 2 May. This was the fourth election since the post was established in 2012. Only two of the winners of the 2012 elections are still in post, with Tim Passmore re-elected in Suffolk and Katy Bourne remaining in Sussex. This year sees 16 new PCCs take up post.
Out of the 42 PCC areas, 22 are now held by Labour, 19 are Conservative and one is Plaid Cymru. The London Mayor is included in this list for completeness, even though strictly speaking he isn’t a PCC he does oversee the Met through his Deputy Mayor.
The lowest turnout was in Wales, with the nadir of 15.6 per cent in Gwent with the election of Labour’s Jane Mudd. But Wales did see the election of the first black female PCC, as Emily Wools replaced Alun Michaels as the South Wales PCC in this Labour stronghold. Ms Wools held the unelected post of Deputy PCC since 2016. Overall, there are now 14 female PCCs – half the number of Male PCCs – across England and Wales.
The best turnout – at 40 per cent – was in London where Sadiq Khan won a historic third term as Mayor. Andy Burnham continues to represent the people of Greater Manchester with a huge majority and a turnout of 32.5 per cent. He’s been mayor since 2017. The only other areas to garner more than 30 per cent were West Yorkshire, Cleveland and Northumbria.
A Labour resurgence
The red wave saw 11 previously Conservative held PCC positions move to Labour, with casualties including the candidate in Northamptonshire where incumbent Stephen Mold did not stand again after his misogynistic comments about the incoming Chief Fire Officer were leaked making his candidacy for a further term in office untenable.
Clive Grunshaw returned to Lancashire after a term out when Conservative Andrew Snowden beat him in 2021. And in Bedfordshire it was a second loss in eight months for Festus Akonbusoye as he was runner up to Labour’s John TIzard. Back in October, he came second in a by-election when he stood to be the Conservative MP (while remaining the PCC) in the area after Nadine Dorries quit as an MP.
Voters in York and North Yorkshire got to elect their first combined authority mayor. Labour’s David Skaith is also the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, joining the mayors in London and Manchester in having oversight of both police and fire.
The spat in the West Midlands between the Labour PCC and the Conservative Mayor ended in the weeks before the election on 2 May with the High Court ruling the Home Secretary’s decision to move police governance to the Mayor as ‘unlawful.’ In the end, Simon Foster was re-elected as PCC and Andy Street lost the election as Mayor as the voters decided to elect a Labour mayor instead.
Other interesting results include Gloucestershire where the previous independent PCC Martin Surl returned to fight as a Liberal Democrat, having lost out in 2021. While in office, he spent a lot of time trying to wrest the fire and rescue service from the hands of Gloucestershire County Council and failed. This year, he was just beaten by the Conservative candidate Chris Nelson.
For a full list of results, visit the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners website.
Read more about PCC elections and why complexity may hinder turnout in my article published on 4 April.
