LABOUR won the West of England mayoral election, after a strong challenge from Reform UK.
At the region-wide election on May 1, Labour’s Helen Godwin successfully defended the role
won from the Tories by Dan Norris in 2021.
She polled 51,197 votes, a majority of 5,945 over Reform’s Arron Banks, who received 45,252.
Green candidate Mary Page
was third, Conservative Steve Smith was fourth and Liberal Democrat Oli Henman was fifth, with independent Ian Scott losing his deposit in last place, after failing to secure 5% of the overall votes cast.
Votes in the three council areas which make up the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority were counted separately.
In South Gloucestershire, Mr Banks, an outspoken businessman and Brexit donor, topped the poll ahead of Conservative Steve Smith. Labour’s Ms Godwin was third and the Lib Dems, who run the council in coalition with Labour, squeezed into fourth place.
Mr Banks said his party’s
overall performance had been “pretty epic”.
Ms Godwin’s win was a rare bright spot for Labour on a night when the party lost a by-election, four out of six mayoral elections and 187 of the 285 council seats it was defending across the country.
But it was even worse for the Conservatives, who lost 676 of the 993 council seats they were defending across the country.
The West of England election saw them pushed into fourth place in a poll they had won at the inaugural election in 2017.
The race had proved hard for pollsters to predict, with a YouGov poll a week before the election predicting a Green win, while MoreInCommon predicted a Labour victory.
After the result was announced, Ms Godwin told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “It was always going to be close – we knew that.
“It genuinely is the honour of my life to be your new West of England Mayor.
“Today marks the beginning of a new chapter for the West of England, where we’ll bring people together and work more transparently to deliver the ambitious change our communities need.
“This region isn’t just my political home—it’s where I was born, where my children are growing up, and where my family’s roots run deep across the West Country.”
The turnout of 30% was more than 6% down on the 2021 election, which were held at the same time as council elections.
OVERALL RESULTS
Helen Godwin (Labour): 51,197
Arron Banks (Reform UK): 45,252
Mary Page (Green): 41,094
Steve Smith (Conservative): 34,092
Oli Henman (Liberal Democrat): 28,711
Ian Scott (Independent): 4,682
Total votes cast: 205,557
Turnout: 30%
SOUTH GLOS VOTING
Arron Banks (Reform UK) 19,446
Steve Smith (Conservative) 14,235
Helen Godwin (Labour) 12,442
Oli Henman (Lib Dem) 9,137
Mary Page (Green) 7,392
Ian Scott (Independent) 2,051