West Midlands Mayoral contest too close to call
The region heads to the polls today (May 2) to elect the Mayor of the West Midlands, a contest that looks too close to call.
Data by YouGov reveals that the vote is on a knife edge, with 41% saying they intend to vote for Conservative incumbent Andy Street, whilst 39% say they would back his Labour challenger Richard Parker.
YouGov says the results are within the margin of error of one another and therefore the outcome is too close to call.
With six candidates standing to become Mayor, Street is hoping to secure a third term, having first been elected in 2017.
Reform UK’s Elaine Williams is taking 9% of the vote, and the Greens’ Siobhan Harper-Nunes is on 6%.
The Lib Dem’s Sunny Virk takes just 2% of the vote, while independent Akhmed Yakoob is on 3%.
Voters aren’t just deciding who will run the West Midlands Combined Authority, but also who will oversee police forces in the West Midlands, West Mercia, Warwickshire and Staffordshire police force areas.
The future of the West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner role currently held by Labour’s Simon Foster went to the High Court recently, as Andy Street looked to merge PCC powers with the Mayor’s role.
Foster is being challenged by former police officer Tom Byrne, who also ran to be the Conservative candidate for MP for Tamworth in the last by-election, losing out to Andrew Cooper.
Local elections are also taking place to decide who runs the 12 authorities, including Coventry, Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull, Walsall, Wolverhampton, Cannock Chase, Nuneaton & Bedworth, Redditch, Rugby, Tamworth and Worcester.
Polls opened at 07:00 BST and will close at 22:00 BST.
