Boris Johnson completes Tory election hat-trick as Andy Street romps to victory in the West Midlands to add to wins in the Hartlepool by-election and Tees Valley mayoral vote and pile more misery on Labour
- Conservative Andy Street romped home to remain mayor of the West Midlands
- It came after win in the Hartlepool by-election for Jill Mortimer last Thursday
- The Tees Valley was held by Ben Houchen to complete a dominant Tory display
Boris Johnson‘s Tories completed an incredible electoral hat-trick this afternoon to pile more misery on Keir Starmer‘s Labour.
The Conservative Andy Street romped home to remain mayor of the West Midlands, thrashing former minister Liam Byrne in a vote that the opposition had hopes of winning.
It came after wins in the Hartlepool by-election for Jill Mortimer and mayoral vote in the Tees Valley by Ben Houchen to complete a dominant display for the governing party 11 years into its tenure.
The West Midlands defeat is especially embarrassing for Labour and Mr Byrne personally, after he confidently predicted his own victory.
Mr Street, the former boss of John Lewis, came close to winning outright in the first round with 48.7 per cent of valid first preference votes.
But after the second round of voting he emerged with 54 per cent of the vote to Mr Byrne’s 46 per cent.
In his acceptance speech Mr Street hailed Boris Johnson’s ‘levelling-up’ agenda, adding: ‘I’ll be banging on the door to make sure that commitment comes good.’
The Conservative Andy Street romped home to remain mayor of the West Midlands, thrashing former minister Liam Byrne in a vote that the opposition had hopes of winning.
Speaking from the podium at the count in Birmingham, Andy Street thanked everyone who had put their faith in him, and praised hundreds of Conservative activists for their exemplary support of his campaign.
Mr Street, who was supported by comedian Jasper Carrott, added: ‘Our success goes well beyond the Conservative team – so I also want to thank everyone else who’s come on board over last four years, and shares our vision for and belief in the renewal of the West Midlands.
‘It’s that growing sense of unity and shared purpose that makes me certain we will succeed.’
Defeated Liam Byrne said Labour had won in Birmingham, Coventry and Sandwell but he conceded that his overall defeat was a ‘bitter blow’ for his party.
The Birmingham Hodge Hill MP added: ‘This defeat is my responsibility. In the weeks ahead I’ll tell the full and astonishing story of this ground-breaking campaign, but today I simply say this – do not be down-hearted because if you lose heart our country loses hope.’