By Andrew Topping, News Editor
It was a tough day for the Conservative Party across Nottinghamshire as mayoral and police commissioner elections appeared to show bricks being rebuilt into the ‘red wall’.
Labour’s Claire Ward secured an overwhelming victory in the first-ever East Midlands mayoral election – landing more than 181,000 votes compared to the Conservatives’ Ben Bradley at just below 130,000.
The party’s Gary Godden also returned the Police and Crime Commissioner position back to Labour after three years being held by the Conservatives’ Caroline Henry.
Ms Ward’s mayoral victory saw a 40 per cent vote share for Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party in the inaugural mayoral poll.
This compared with 29 per cent for the Tories – a poll marginally reflective of the national opinion polls putting Starmer’s Labour on course for a General Election majority.
But it was the localised results which showed roadblocks for the Tory machine ahead of the expected Autumn election.
Labour won the most votes in traditionally Tory Rushcliffe, albeit by a margin of hundreds – not thousands – of votes.
Second-placed Cllr Bradley – who also sits as Mansfield’s current Conservative MP and the leader of Nottinghamshire County Council – even failed to win the most votes in his own parliamentary constituency, being pipped by Ms Ward by just above 400 votes.
Neighbouring Ashfield – a parliamentary seat secured by Boris Johnson’s Conservatives in 2019 before current MP Lee Anderson defected to Reform UK – also returned a local victory for Claire Ward, with a majority of 1,500 votes.
This is despite the party having the fewest seats on the local district council at one out of 35 – with an interesting local battle seeing Mr Anderson’s Reform UK colleague Alan Graves finishing in fourth place, just behind independent Matt Relf in third by a margin of 38 votes.
Mr Relf is also a local district councillor in Ashfield who sits as an Ashfield Independent.
That political party are expected to field controversial Ashfield District Council leader Cllr Jason Zadrozny in the election this year – while Labour have selected Rhea Keehn in what will be a closely-viewed contest nationally.
Elsewhere, Labour also picked up the most votes in Broxtowe and Gedling – both of which turned blue in the last General Election – while Ms Ward also won the most votes in Labour’s Nottingham stronghold, despite the ongoing financial struggles of the effectively bankrupt city council.
READ MORE: East Midlands Mayor Claire Ward vows to turn region around amid ‘massive challenges’
It was only in Newark and Sherwood where the Conservatives closely won the highest number of votes, by a margin of about 1,000.
This district area includes parts of the Newark constituency – held by Robert Jenrick – and the Sherwood constituency held by former Government chief whip Mark Spencer.
Speaking after her victory, the new mayor said: “Throughout this campaign, I’ve heard your message loud and clear – you are ready for change.
“You’ve not only put your trust in me, but you’ve also put your trust in a changed Labour Party that can now, confidently – and with conviction – say to our proud villages, towns and cities, that we are ready to lead, and we’re ready to deliver.”
Labour’s local victories across Nottinghamshire were also mirrored in neighbouring Derbyshire, including districts and boroughs like Bolsover and Erewash where Ms Ward secured the most votes.
It came on a day to forget for the Conservatives nationally as the amount of councillors lost numbered in the hundreds – including losing control of financially-hit Thurrock Council to Labour after years of financial mismanagement.
Labour also won the Blackpool South parliamentary by-election from the Conservatives – with the Tories only just beating Reform UK into second place.
It led to leader Sir Keir Starmer declaring Blackpool South a ‘seismic victory’ in his party’s General Election hopes for this year.
It also followed Labour securing victory in the inaugural North East, and York and North Yorkshire, mayoral elections – the latter being in Rishi Sunak’s parliamentary back-yard and including his Richmond constituency.
Tory Ben Houchen did, however, manage to hold onto the Tees Valley mayoralty – offering Mr Sunak a lifeline.
Mr Houchen did not mention the Prime Minister in his acceptance speech.
Speaking on the national picture, second-placed East Midlands candidate Mr Bradley – who now has to go back to his Mansfield voters and prove he still wants to be their MP, despite confirming he would step down from the role if elected as mayor – said: “We know it’s a difficult national situation. We’re effectively 20 points behind in the polls.
“Inevitably, when you’re behind in the polls… you’ve got to do something as a local candidate to make sure you add value.
“We tried to do that and I think we ran a good campaign. Nationally, there are always lessons to be learnt and you have these hurdles.
“There’s six months, probably, until the General Election. I’ll be cracking on in Mansfield to make sure we do the work there.”
Aside from Labour and the Conservatives, Green candidate Frank Adlington-Stringer finished in third place in the East Midlands poll with just above 50,000 votes.
He said during the day that he aimed to beat Reform UK candidate Alan Graves – a feat he achieved by about 1,400 votes.
Speaking during the count, he said it marked the “beginning of the Greens in the East Midlands” ahead of the upcoming General Election.
Independent Mr Relf finished in fifth place with just above 23,000 votes – and believed he would get more votes if he was attached to a “party machine”.
Liberal Democrat candidate Helen Tambyln-Saville finished in a comfortable sixth place with just less than 16,000 votes and said she had stood to “be that voice” for those who shared her party’s ambitions and values.
Mr Graves did not attend the count at the Nottingham Tennis Centre, though the Derby politician did attend in his home city where the local results were counted before being fed into Nottingham.
He had campaigned on a platform to scrap the mayoralty in its entirety – citing a consultation conducted last year which found that a majority of people surveyed did not want the mayor position to be created.
However, the role itself – and Ms Ward – will be in charge of running the East Midlands Combined County Authority (EMCCA), which will be in control of new powers and funding handed to the region from Whitehall.
Its aim is to redress longstanding funding imbalances which have seen the East Midlands lagging behind neighbouring regions like the West Midlands and Greater Manchester – which already have similar deals in place.
It will lead to at least £1.14bn handed to local leaders over 30 years to spend on projects in areas like public and strategic transport, housing, the environment and education and skills.
Turnout for the poll was 27.6 per cent, with the six candidates getting a combined 449,568 votes across the two regions.
It came on the same day Labour’s Gary Godden became Nottinghamshire’s police and crime commissioner by defeating incumbent Caroline Henry.
READ MORE: Labour’s Gary Godden beats Caroline Henry in Nottinghamshire police commissioner race
The Labour candidate received 119,000 votes compared to 77,000 for Mrs Henry. Liberal Democrat candidate David Watts finished in third with 32,000 votes.
Turnout in this election was slightly higher at 28.1 per cent.
Mrs Henry’s defeat came after she refused to resign when she admitted five counts of speeding at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court in 2022.
The departing politician – who is married to Conservative Broxtowe MP Darren Henry – said she was “gutted” to be leaving the role.
However, former police officer Mr Godden – who will now begin holding Nottinghamshire Police to account and setting its £280m budget – said he was “humbled” by his victory.
READ MORE: New Labour police commissioner to prioritise trust in force
He won in every Nottinghamshire district and borough, as well as Nottingham city, and said restoring faith in the force will be a priority.
Liberal Democrat candidate Mr Watts urged the next PCC to get the force talking to the public.
Below are the two election results in full, starting with the East Midlands Mayoral election:
Frank Adlington-Stringer (Green Party): 50,666
Ben Bradley (Conservatives): 129,332
Alan Graves (Reform UK): 49,201
Matt Relf (Independent): 23,359
Helen Tamblyn-Saville (Liberal Democrats): 15,970
Claire Ward (Labour): 181,040
Nottinghamshire Police and Crime Commissioner election:
Gary Godden (Labour): 119,355
Caroline Henry (Conservatives): 77,148
David Watts (Liberal Democrats): 32,410
