Dead end for Street as Parker triumphs in West Midlands mayoral election

Richard Parker, the Labour candidate, has caused a political earthquake after being elected as the next West Midlands Mayor after a close campaign, defeating Andy Street.

The pair were neck-and-neck throughout the count, as expected, and there was a full recount of the Coventry ballot. In the end, just over a thousand votes – or 0.2% – separated them after 600,000 voters took part in Thursday’s election.

Throughout his campaign, Street had emphasised his personal brand and record and sought to distance himself from the Conservative Party’s national performance.

The two previous mayoral elections had been run under the supplementary vote system, where voters could select a first and second preference. In 2017 Street won with a majority of less than 4,000 votes over Sion Simon, then in 2021, he was re-elected when he defeated Liam Byrne by 47,000 votes.

The local authorities within the West Midlands Combined Authority region are Birmingham, Coventry, Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull, Walsall, and Wolverhampton.

This year, turnout in the West Midlands dropped to 29.81%, totalling 601,713 votes, down from 31% in 2021. Across various areas, turnout varied, with Solihull recording the highest at 34.95% and Birmingham the lowest at 28.47%.

Labour’s Simon Foster was re-elected as the West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner with 327,844 votes, comfortably ahead of the 241,827 votes received by Conservative candidate Tom Byrne. Street had sought for the mayor to take over the powers of the PCC but had lost a legal battle in March.

Full results of the mayoral election: