Ben Houchen re-elected Tees Valley Mayor
The source of the image used in this blog is PA Media.
Lord Houchen was present at the vote counting ceremony alongside his spouse Rachel and their infant child.
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On Thursday, Ben Houchen, who is a conservative, was declared victorious in the election and will now embark on his third consecutive term as the Tees Valley Mayor.
Lord Houchen has served as the incumbent since the inception of this position in 2017 and has been elected again in 2021.
On Friday, it was announced that he won at the vote count which took place in Thornaby, situated in Stockton-on-Tees.
Chris McEwan from the Labour party and Simon Thorley from the Liberal Democrats put themselves forward for the position as well.
Lord Houchen emerged victorious in all five council areas, albeit with a lesser margin over the Labour party.
The percentage of it has gone down from 73% last year to 53.6% this year.
The party of Labour garnered 41.3% of the total votes in the election, whereas the Liberal Democrats only managed to secure 5% of the votes.
The number of people who voted was 31%, which is a decrease of 3.1% from the previous election.
The Labour party stated that the outcome of the Tees Valley election should act as a significant alert for the leader of the government.
Ben Houchen's re-election victory in Tees Valley defies conventional expectations.
Lord Houchen was present at the count alongside his better half, Rachel, and their baby girl, Hannah, who is just three months old.
He expressed that being elected as the mayor again in the location where he plans to spend the remainder of his life was the most significant honor he could receive.
I feel very grateful to all those who supported me through their votes. Teesside holds a special place in my heart as it's where I was born and raised, except for a brief period of four years in Newcastle, after which I returned to my roots. The love and support of Teesside's people humble me beyond words.
Lord Houchen admitted that there is still a lot of work to be done and expressed gratitude to the voters who supported his vision for the following four years. He stated that he is making positive strides towards achieving his goals.
According to a representative from the Labour party, the shift of support towards their party in Tees Valley indicates that they are on their way to securing a victory in all constituencies in the region during a national election.
The Conservatives have a reason to be very concerned as their nominee had to stand as an unaffiliated candidate to secure a victory.
If Rishi Sunak chooses to ignore this outcome, he is refusing to acknowledge the seriousness of the situation.
Richard Moss' North East & Cumbria Political Analysis
Ben Houchen's victory is likely to bring him a great sense of relief, as well as to alleviate some of Rishi Sunak's concerns.
This demonstrates that a member of the Conservative party can achieve victory in the locations that the prime minister must secure to remain in power, even though the outcome was much closer than when the Conservative mayor secured 73% of the vote in 2021.
Maybe it's not possible for any Conservative to emerge victorious. Even though he has been tackling a heap of tricky issues during his second term, with particular focus on a deal with local business people to revamp an abandoned steel refinery, his party's plummeting rating in the polls was his major obstacle.
During his campaign, Ben Houchen emphasized the importance of considering local matters when selecting a mayor and disregarding national politics. This strategy was successful for him, but it may not be an effective approach for Conservative MPs in the region during a future general election.
The Labour Party will likely perceive their performance in this area as satisfactory, enough to establish a path towards reversing the advances made by Boris Johnson in their core territories during the 2019 elections – and potentially achieve even greater success.
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