The 2024 West Midlands mayoral election was held on 2 May 2024 to elect the mayor of the West Midlands. The election took place on the same day as other local elections across England and Wales. Richard Parker of the Labour Party won the election, narrowly defeating incumbent Conservative mayor Andy Street, who was running for a third term.
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Background
editThe West Midlands is the second most populous city-region of the United Kingdom, after Greater London.[1] The position of Mayor of the West Midlands was created in 2017 following a devolution agreement between the UK government and the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA). The Cities and Local Government Devolution Act 2016 required a directly elected "metro mayor" for combined authorities to receive additional powers from central government.[2] Under the terms of the devolution deal, the first mayoral term was set to last until 2020, followed by elections every four years.[3] In the inaugural election in 2017, the Conservative candidate Andy Street defeated Labour's Siôn Simon in the final round with 50.4% of the vote. Street was subsequently elected to a second term in 2021 (the election having been delayed a year in the COVID-19 pandemic), defeating Labour candidate Liam Byrne in the final round with 54.0% of the vote.
Electoral system
editThis election was the first to use first past the post to elect the mayor as a result of the changes made by the Elections Act 2022, with previous elections in 2017 and 2021 using the supplementary vote system.
All registered electors living in the metropolitan boroughs of Birmingham, Coventry, Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull, Walsall, and Wolverhampton aged 18 or over were entitled to vote.
Candidates
editConservative Party
editAndy Street, the incumbent mayor and former managing director of John Lewis & Partners.[4]
Labour Party
editThe incumbent West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner, Simon Foster, initially sought selection before dropping out after receiving only three nominations from local Constituency Labour Parties, while the former accountant Richard Parker received seventeen and the councillor and victims' commissioner Nicky Brennan received eight.[5][6] Parker went on to be selected on 14 April 2023 following a ballot of Labour members in the region.[7]
Parker worked at PwC from 1989 to 2015, leading on housing and communities and managing the company's relationship with the Labour shadow cabinet from 2010 to 2015. After leaving PwC he started a business "working with SMEs and social enterprises on green investment, housing initiatives and the Birmingham Commonwealth Games".[8] He said that if elected mayor, he would take public control of the bus network, only give combined authority contracts that pay their staff well, and move the net zero deadline from 2041 to 2035.[8] He had been endorsed by most Labour MPs and senior Labour councillors in the region.[9]
Green Party
editThe Green Party of England and Wales candidate in the election was Siobhan Harper-Nunes.[10][11] A local businesswoman, Harper-Nunes previously stood as a Green candidate in the 2022 Birmingham Erdington by-election.[12]
Liberal Democrats
editThe Liberal Democrats chose barrister and mediator Sunny Virk as their candidate. Virk stood in the 2023 Tamworth by-election. If elected, he promised to focus on the transport network and attracting investment to the region.[13]
Reform UK
editReform UK announced Elaine Williams, a solicitor as their candidate in March 2024.[14]
Independent
editAkhmed Yakoob, a criminal defence lawyer, stood as an independent. He was endorsed by George Galloway.[15] The majority of his campaigning occurred on social media, in particular TikTok. His campaign focused on the Israel–Hamas war and various local issues.[16]
Campaign
editPrior to the election, the Labour-run Birmingham City Council, the local council for the most populous metropolitan borough within West Midlands, declared bankruptcy.[17][18] The situation was criticised during the campaign by the incumbent mayor, Conservative Andy Street, who said that the Council had "let down" citizens and services.[19] However, he also distanced himself from the incumbent Conservative government led by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, urging voters to "focus on him and his record, not the performance of the Conservative party nationally". Street also highlighted his record in office, saying that "an extra £10 billion pounds has come to the area as a result of the mayoral system" and that his mayoralty had "delivered 16,000 more houses a year, 33% of them affordable", which according to him was "one of the best records of any region".[20]
Amongst his other policies, Street pledged to treble the amount of social housing within the West Midlands to 1,700 new social homes per year, using powers newly devolved to the combined authority in 2023, with the city region receiving a single affordable housing settlement from central government after 2026.[21][22] Disappointed with the central government decision to cancel the northern leg of the high-speed rail project HS2 from Birmingham to Manchester, Street outlined plans with the Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham to revive the high-speed rail project with private investment.[23][24][25]
The Labour candidate for Mayor, Richard Parker, pledged to "create 150,000 new jobs for the region" by focusing on raising the skill level of the workforce in the region with the mayor's adult skills budget and by creating a taskforce to help support businesses in the region to stay and grow. He has also pledged to bring the region's bus services into public ownership. Parker also said that he doesn't believe people will blame Labour for the Birmingham's Labour-led city council declaring bankruptcy, instead commenting that "the Conservatives have cut £1 billion from the council's budget during the past decade" which has been "incredibly damaging" to the "poorest communities at a time when they've been suffering most" according to him.[26] Parker has in his campaign also pledged to "offer real help with the cost of living crisis" and deliver more affordable and reliable public transport for the region.[27]
Both Street and Parker, alongside the Liberal Democrat candidate Sunny Virk, backed the proposed light rail system in Coventry, with Street saying that he has "ring-fenced £72m in government money" for the system. Parker has promised that if elected he would "revisit the scheme to make sure money was available more quickly". The Green candidate, Siobhan Harper-Nunes also backed the system, but criticised central government for "refusing to fund VLR in full". In contrast to the others, Elaine Williams of Reform UK, branded the proposals "a vanity project" and said that "Coventry could and should spend a fraction of this amount on increasing the number of buses, security on its buses, remove restrictions and welcome cars back into its city centre".[28]
The role of the Police and Crime Commissioner for the region was set to be abolished and its functions transferred to the Mayor in time for the next mayoral term following the election, however the incumbent Labour PCC Simon Foster took legal action against the process and the High Court ruled in his favour, preventing the scheduled merger of the roles prior to the election. The roles in question are already merged in London, Manchester and West Yorkshire, with the Mayor of South Yorkshire scheduled to have the PCC powers merged into the offices functions coinciding with the election. Street continued to support the merger of the functions to the mayoral powers, saying that the success of the model was "already evident" in the aforementioned city regions.[29][30] Street had previously accused his Labour opponent of "refusing to come clean on his views on the future of policing and crime" in the region and had said that "it was surprising the candidate did not appear to have a view on the future of policing governance in the region", after Parker had said that "he did not wish to comment yet" on the proposal prior to the completion of the consultation process on the issue by the government.[31]
Results
editThe Labour candidate, Richard Parker, narrowly won the election by 1,508 votes, defeating the incumbent Conservative mayor, Andy Street, by just 0.3 percentage points.[32]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labour Co-op | Richard Parker | 225,590 | 37.8 | −1.8 | |
| Conservative | Andy Street | 224,082 | 37.5 | −11.2 | |
| Independent | Akhmed Yakoob | 69,621 | 11.7 | N/A | |
| Reform UK | Elaine Williams | 34,471 | 5.8 | +3.6 | |
| Green | Siobhan Harper-Nunes | 31,036 | 5.2 | −0.6 | |
| Liberal Democrats | Sunny Virk | 12,176 | 2.0 | −1.6 | |
| Majority | 1,508 | 0.3 | N/A | ||
| Rejected ballots | 4,757 | ||||
| Turnout | 601,828 | 29.8 | −1.4 | ||
| Registered electors | 2,018,546 | ||||
| Labour Co-op gain from Conservative | Swing | ||||
Results by borough
editSource: [33]
Birmingham
edit| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labour Co-op | Richard Parker | 80,251 | 37.3 | |
| Conservative | Andy Street | 66,296 | 30.8 | |
| Independent | Akhmed Yakoob | 42,923 | 19.9 | |
| Green | Siobhan Harper-Nunes | 12,879 | 6.0 | |
| Reform UK | Elaine Williams | 9,086 | 4.2 | |
| Liberal Democrats | Sunny Virk | 3,722 | 1.7 | |
| Turnout | 215,157 | 28.3 | ||
| Rejected ballots | 1,338 | 0.6 | ||
| Registered electors | 760,404 | |||
Coventry
edit| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labour Co-op | Richard Parker | 32,704 | 46.4 | |
| Conservative | Andy Street | 23,237 | 32.9 | |
| Green | Siobhan Harper-Nunes | 4,292 | 6.1 | |
| Reform UK | Elaine Williams | 3,943 | 5.6 | |
| Independent | Akhmed Yakoob | 3,639 | 5.2 | |
| Liberal Democrats | Sunny Virk | 2,711 | 3.8 | |
| Turnout | 70,526 | 29.2 | ||
| Rejected ballots | 684 | 1.0 | ||
| Registered electors | 241,267 | |||
Dudley
edit| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | Andy Street | 37,345 | 49.4 | |
| Labour Co-op | Richard Parker | 24,807 | 32.8 | |
| Reform UK | Elaine Williams | 5,431 | 7.2 | |
| Independent | Akhmed Yakoob | 3,874 | 5.1 | |
| Green | Siobhan Harper-Nunes | 2,913 | 3.9 | |
| Liberal Democrats | Sunny Virk | 1,163 | 1.5 | |
| Turnout | 75,533 | 32.2 | ||
| Rejected ballots | 581 | 0.8 | ||
| Registered electors | 234,612 | |||
Sandwell
edit| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labour Co-op | Richard Parker | 31,561 | 48.2 | |
| Conservative | Andy Street | 18,598 | 28.4 | |
| Independent | Akhmed Yakoob | 7,026 | 10.7 | |
| Reform UK | Elaine Williams | 4,347 | 6.6 | |
| Green | Siobhan Harper-Nunes | 2,722 | 4.2 | |
| Liberal Democrats | Sunny Virk | 1,201 | 1.8 | |
| Turnout | 65,455 | 28.1 | ||
| Rejected ballots | 873 | 1.3 | ||
| Registered electors | 232,636 | |||
Solihull
edit| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | Andy Street | 35,289 | 62.5 | |
| Labour Co-op | Richard Parker | 11,728 | 20.8 | |
| Green | Siobhan Harper-Nunes | 3,582 | 6.3 | |
| Reform UK | Elaine Williams | 2,887 | 5.1 | |
| Liberal Democrats | Sunny Virk | 1,546 | 2.7 | |
| Independent | Akhmed Yakoob | 1,454 | 2.6 | |
| Turnout | 56,486 | 34.8 | ||
| Rejected ballots | 319 | 0.6 | ||
| Registered electors | 162,529 | |||
Walsall
edit| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | Andy Street | 24,735 | 41.6 | |
| Labour Co-op | Richard Parker | 18,097 | 30.4 | |
| Independent | Akhmed Yakoob | 8,451 | 14.2 | |
| Reform UK | Elaine Williams | 5,247 | 8.8 | |
| Green | Siobhan Harper-Nunes | 2,127 | 3.6 | |
| Liberal Democrats | Sunny Virk | 847 | 1.4 | |
| Turnout | 59,504 | 29.8 | ||
| Rejected ballots | 468 | 0.8 | ||
| Registered electors | 199,862 | |||
Wolverhampton
edit| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labour Co-op | Richard Parker | 26,442 | 48.7 | |
| Conservative | Andy Street | 18,582 | 34.2 | |
| Reform UK | Elaine Williams | 3,530 | 6.5 | |
| Green | Siobhan Harper-Nunes | 2,521 | 4.6 | |
| Independent | Akhmed Yakoob | 2,254 | 4.1 | |
| Liberal Democrats | Sunny Virk | 986 | 1.8 | |
| Turnout | 54,315 | 29.0 | ||
| Rejected ballots | 494 | 0.9 | ||
| Registered electors | 187,236 | |||
Opinion polling
edit| Dates conducted |
Pollster | Client | Sample size |
Street | Parker | Harper-Nunes | Virk | Williams | Yakoob | Others | Lead |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Con | Lab | Green | Lib Dems | Reform | Ind | ||||||
| 2 May 2024 | Election result | – | 37.5% | 37.8% | 5.2% | 2% | 5.8% | 11.7% | – | 0.3 | |
| 12–29 Apr 2024 | YouGov | N/A | 1,495 | 41% | 39% | 6% | 2% | 9% | 3% | – | 2 |
| 22–24 Apr 2024 | Redfield & Wilton | N/A | 1,000 | 37% | 43% | 5% | 8% | 4% | – | 3% | 6 |
| 19–24 Apr 2024 | More in Common | N/A | 1,541 | 41% | 39% | 8% | 1% | 8% | 3% | – | 2 |
| 11–17 Apr 2024 | Savanta | The News Agents | 1,018 | 38% | 41% | 5% | 5% | 6% | 5% | – | 3 |
| 10–14 Apr 2024 | Redfield & Wilton | N/A | 1,000 | 28% | 42% | 7% | 7% | 13% | – | 2% | 14 |
| 6 May 2021 | 2021 election | – | 48.7% | 39.7% | 5.8% | 3.6% | 2.2% | – | – | 9 | |
References
edit- ^ "Estimates of the population for the UK, England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland". Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 1 February 2020.
- ^ "Everything you need to know about metro mayors: an FAQ". Centre for Cities. 27 June 2016.
- ^ Walker, Jonathan (19 July 2016). "West Midlands mayor to be elected on May 4 2017". BirminghamLive. Reach. Retrieved 23 August 2017.
- ^ Knowles, Kate. "Plans approved for Birmingham's old John Lewis store to be transformed into offices & foodhall". Birmingham World. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
- ^ Storer, Rhi. "Police and crime commissioner Simon Foster drops out of Labour mayor race". Birmingham Live. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
- ^ "Mayoral shortlist candidates revealed by Labour". The Business Desk. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
- ^ Neame, Katie. "Richard Parker selected as Labour candidate for West Midlands mayor". LabourList. Retrieved 7 May 2023.
- ^ a b Neame, Katie (17 April 2023). "Richard Parker selected as Labour candidate for West Midlands mayor". LabourList. Retrieved 17 May 2023.
- ^ Haynes, Jane (14 April 2023). "Labour selects Richard Parker to try to oust Andy Street as West Midlands mayor". BirminghamLive. Retrieved 17 May 2023.
- ^ "West Midlands mayor: Who is running and what is the role?". BBC News. 23 January 2024. Retrieved 23 January 2024.
- ^ "Green Party announces candidate for West Midlands mayoral election this spring". Birmingham Mail. 29 January 2024. Retrieved 29 January 2024.
- ^ "ELECTION NEWS: Green Party announce Siobhan Harper-Nunes as Erdington by-election candidate". Erdington Local. Archived from the original on 13 February 2022. Retrieved 8 March 2024.
- ^ "Lib Dems select West Midlands Mayor candidate". BBC News. 14 March 2024. Retrieved 15 March 2024.
- ^ "Reform UK picks Elaine Williams as West Midlands mayor candidate". BBC News. 19 March 2024. Retrieved 22 March 2024.
- ^ Warner, Lewis (9 April 2024). "Who is standing for election in the Midlands in 2024?". ITV.
- ^ https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/gaza-tiktok-lawyer-reform-uk-29078385
- ^ "'Bankrupt' Birmingham reveals 21% council tax rise". 19 February 2024. Retrieved 14 April 2024.
- ^ Ziady, Hanna (19 September 2023). "Bankrupt Birmingham braces for cuts as UK government takes control | CNN Business". CNN. Retrieved 14 April 2024.
- ^ Boakye, Kwame (5 September 2023). "Andy Street: Birmingham has been 'let down' by council". Local Government Chronicle (LGC). Retrieved 14 April 2024.
- ^ Helm, Toby (6 April 2024). "West Midlands mayor distances himself from Tories, urging voters to 'distinguish between party and me'". The Observer. ISSN 0029-7712. Retrieved 14 April 2024.
- ^ "Andy Street outlines plan to treble social housing delivery". Inside Housing. Retrieved 14 April 2024.
- ^ "WMCA reveals shape of new affordable homes programme". Inside Housing. Retrieved 14 April 2024.
- ^ "Mayor Andy Street rules out resigning after HS2 leg scrapped". BBC News. 4 October 2023. Retrieved 14 April 2024.
- ^ "West Midlands and Greater Manchester mayors outline options to revive rail after axing of northern leg of HS2". Sky News. Retrieved 14 April 2024.
- ^ "Mayors hold 'constructive' HS2 talks with transport secretary". Sky News. Retrieved 14 April 2024.
- ^ Murray, Jessica (9 April 2024). "'Low skills blight lives': Richard Parker on his mayoral ambitions". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 14 April 2024.
- ^ "'I want to be the new West Midlands Mayor – here's my six point plan for the region'". BirminghamWorld.
- ^ "West Midlands mayoral rivals pledge to fund Very Light Rail plans". BBC News. 23 March 2024. Retrieved 14 April 2024.
- ^ "The West Midlands Combined Authority (Transfer of Police and Crime Commissioner Functions) Order 2024". legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 14 February 2024.
- ^ "West Midlands crime commissioner wins legal challenge over powers". BBC News. Retrieved 14 April 2024.
- ^ "Councils 'not to blame' for financial woes – mayoral canndidate". BBC News. Retrieved 14 April 2024.
- ^ Murray, Jessica (4 May 2024). "Labour's Richard Parker beats Andy Street to become West Midlands mayor". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 June 2024.
- ^ "Results". West Midlands Combined Authority. 4 May 2024. Retrieved 5 May 2024.