Labour has won a trio of nail-biting mayoral contests after seeing off huge swings to Reform UK in North Tyneside, the West of England and Doncaster.
In North Tyneside, new mayor Karen Clark secured 16,230 votes to continue Labour’s 12-year stint in power.
However, with a swing of 26 per cent, Reform UK’s John Falkenstein fell just 444 votes short of defeating Clark.
The Tories managed to put up a relatively strong showing – but were unable to prevent being relegated to third-place on 20.5 per cent.
Ros Jones, Karen Clark and Helen Godwin all won their respective contests
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Reform UK’s West of England mayoral candidate Arron BanksPA
Labour’s Helen Godwin, who saw off Reform by just 5,945 votes, won the contest despite only receiving 25 per cent of the vote.
However, Banks’s still managed to obtain 22.1 per cent, putting him narrowly ahead of Green candidate Mary Page on 20 per cent.
After the vote, he said: “Beating the Greens into third place and only finishing 5,000 behind Labour is an epic result for Reform.
“If we can do this in Bristol, we can do it anywhere. What this result shows is if you vote Tory you get Labour.
“Thanks to my home voters in South Gloucestershire who gave me a 7,000 majority.”
In a swipe at efforts by Green-run Bristol City Council to bar him from using the “Banksy” name to campaign, Banks jabbed: “Bristol liked Banksy after all.”
It was a tough night for both the Tories and Liberal Democrats – with both parties traditionally treating the South West as a battleground.
Tory Steve Smith only secured 16.6 per cent of the vote and Liberal Democrat Oli Henman ended up in fifth place on 14 per cent.
Moments after the West of England declaration, Labour activists were yet again celebrating the barest of victories over Reform UK.
Ros Jones managed to defeat Reform’s Alexander Jones by just 698 votes – with Labour’s 23,805 votes topping the populist party’s 23,107 showing.
Jones went on to hit out at Sir Keir Starmer’s slashing of welfare and the winter fuel allowance, hiking employers’ National Insurance Contributions.
She told the BBC: “I wrote as soon as the winter fuel allowance was actually mooted, and I said it was wrong, and therefore I stepped in immediately and used our household support fund to ensure no-one in Doncaster went cold during the winter.
“I think the results here tonight will demonstrate that they need to be listening to the man, woman and businesses on the street, and actually deliver for the people, with the people.”
Tory challenger Nick Fletcher, who lost his Doncaster East & the Isle of Axholme seat in the 2024 General Election, made the contest a three-way fight after securing 18,982 votes.
