Conservative Ben Houchen won a third term as Tees Valley mayor despite a massive swing to Labour in a region where he had previously won with 73% of the vote.
Despite polls leading up to the election suggesting a close result, there was little drama in Thornaby Pavillion’s sports hall, as official results from each authority came through one-by-one throughout the morning.
Lord Houchen received 81,930 votes, against Labour’s Chris McEwan who won 63,141, and Liberal Democrat Simon Thorley who won 7,679. Turnout was 31%, slightly down on 2021’s turnout of 34%.
When Middlesbrough’s result was officially declared shortly before 11.30am, it left Labour with a mountain of 6,000 votes to climb in the remaining two authorities left to declare.
Despite being a traditional Labour stronghold, voters in Middlesbrough gave the nod to Ben Houchen who won 13,285 votes, compared to Labour’s Chris McEwan on 12,749.
After being officially declared the victor, Lord Houchen used his speech to thank his wife, Rachel, who he described as “an absolute rock by my side,” adding, “I absolutely could not do without her.”
He also said it was the “greatest honour anyone could give me” to be re-elected as mayor in the “place where I’m going to be for the rest of my life.”
Lord Houchen vowed to work “twice as hard” to represent those who hadn’t voted for him, as he said there was “still a long way to go” as he thanked voters for “backing my plan for the next four years” and said he was “making good progress”.
Asked by reporters why he wasn’t wearing a blue rosette, Lord Houchen claimed he “forgot” to wear one. The question came as he received criticism throughout the campaign for appearing to distance himself from the Conservative party.
“I have [worn a rosette] at previous elections and the honest answer is I didn’t have one and I forgot it. But I’ve got my blue socks on and my blue tie on…
“The idea that we are trying to pretend I’m not Conservative, I mean people know round here that I’m a Conservative, but thankfully what we’ve seen today is they also know that I’m a Teessider, and I’ll put Teesside first, I’ll put local people first and I’ll do what’s best for the local area.”
Asked whether he could have borrowed a blue rosette from someone else, he said: “No, we did rumble around in some bags and we were hoping to find one but we couldn’t find one… we were too busy focused on the result.”
There had been speculation earlier in the week that a Tory loss in Teesside might lead to a leadership challenge against Rishi Sunak, who has seen a continued loss of support in opinion polls as the country draws closer to a general election expected later this year.
Speaking to Sky News about distancing himself from his party, Lord Houchen said, “We absolutely don’t shy away from that at all, and Rishi’s been up during the campaign and we have always said Rishi’s been a great friend to the people of Teesside, Darlington and Hartlepool.”
Despite not claiming victory, Labour candidate Chris McEwan was overwhelmingly positive about the progress his party had made in Teesside.
“We achieved a 17 per cent swing here,” he said. “If you look at it I was fighting incumbency, and somebody who was labelled as an independent.
“So from that perspective, I think this is hugely promising, and it shows if there were a general election tomorrow we’d get a clean sweep across the Tees Valley of Labour MPs. I would support Keir Starmer in his call for a general election.”
With Labour expected to win the general election, Lord Houchen was asked if he would be able to work with a Labour government. “Absolutely,” he said. “[Labour leader] Keir Starmer’s come out and said he’s going to double down on devolution, which is a huge change, a 180 from what Labour did in 2019 when they were talking about abolishing mayors, now Keir Starmer’s saying he’s going to give us more money and more powers.
“Which gives me more autonomy to get on and do what I do best, which is deliver for local people.”
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