West Midlands mayoral election, 2017
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Turnout | 26.7% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
.svg)
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
_HS.jpg)
| First round | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Votes | Percentage | |
| Siôn Simon | 2,718 |
|
71.21% |
| Steve Bedser | 1,099 |
|
28.79% |
Position established
The inaugural West Midlands mayoral election was held on 4 May 2017 to elect the Mayor of the West Midlands, with subsequent elections to be held every four years from May 2020. The election took place alongside five elections for English metro mayors and other local elections, and ahead of the general election on 8 June 2017.
The contest was the first election for a governing body covering the entire West Midlands since the 1981 West Midlands County Council election, the former West Midlands County Council having been dissolved in 1986. Police and crime commissioner elections had taken in 2012, 2014 and 2016 with Labour winning those contests decisively.
The election was won by Conservative Andy Street, beating Labour's Siôn Simon in the final round by 50.4% to 49.6% with a turnout of 26.7%. The result was seen as a shock in what has been considered a Labour heartland.
It was suggested higher turnout in more Conservative areas, Street's relatively higher public profile, the unpopularity of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, the concurrent general election, and Street's campaign spending over £1 million may explain the result.
Following a devolution deal between the UK government and the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA), it was agreed to introduce a directly-elected mayor for the combined authority, with an initial election to be held in May 2017. The Cities and Local Government Devolution Act 2016 required a directly-elected metro mayor for combined authorities to receive additional powers from central government.
...
Wikipedia