One of the Conservative party’s highest profile metro mayors, Ben Houchen, has won Tees Valley, giving Rishi Sunak a potential political lifeline.

Houchen was elected with a much reduced majority. He won 81,930 votes against 63,141 for Labour and 7,679 for the Liberal Democrats. The turnout was 30%. His previous majority was 76,323 votes.

Houchen bucked the anti-Tory trend by being elected for a third term in a region that was once a solid Labour heartland.

The mayoral vote has been one of the most keenly watched of all Thursday’s local election contests.

Campaigners have predicted that the mayoral results in Tees Valley and the West Midlands, announced on Saturday, will define how UK politics plays out for the rest of 2024.

Defeat for Houchen could have spurred Tory rebels to move against their leader.

Houchen’s victory gives the prime minister and his supporters a glimmer of hope, able to say that the Tories can still win seats if they get the message right and they just need more time.

Others will say that the victory is down to Houchen’s strong personal brand and his continuing popularity at a local level. He won a remarkable 73% of the vote in 2021 and voters on Thursday were supporting Houchen, not the Conservative party, campaigners have said.

Houchen has also been helped by there being no Reform candidate.

Labour’s candidate, Chris McEwan, a former NHS manager and deputy leader of Darlington council, was also helped when the Green candidate, Sally Bunce, pulled out, saying she did not want to split the vote against Houchen.

The Tees Valley mayor represents 670,000 people in five local authority areas: Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland, Darlington, Stockton-on-Tees and Hartlepool.

More details soon …

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