Independents shock political establishment in PCC elections
A string of surprise results has seen a wave of Independent candidates come out on top in the police and crime commissioner (PCC) elections.
A string of surprise results has seen a wave of Independent candidates come out on top in the police and crime commissioner (PCC) elections.
The Conservatives have 16 successful candidates and Labour 13, but the surprise has been that 12 independent candidates have succeeded despite having to overcome many challenges.
Perhaps the headline result was Hampshire and Isle of Wight, which saw former Conservative Cabinet Minister Michael Mates lose out in a run-off with Simon Hayes, the former head of Crimestoppers. Upsets were also seen as Independents won through in Dorset, Gloucestershire, Gwent, Kent, Surrey, Warwickshire, West Mercia and North Wales, where Tal Michael, the son of Labours successful South Wales Police candidate Alun Michael, lost to Winston Roddick.
Ann Barnes, who sat on Kent Police Authority as a magistrate and independent, chairing the body she will now replace for the last six years, defeated the odds-on favourite Conservative candidate, Craig Mackinlay in a bitter election battle.
Another well known figure in policing also standing as an independent, former president of the Police Superintendents Association of England and Wales, Ian Johnston triumphed in Gwent, defeating the favourite Labour candidate by a significant margin.
A number of other former police officers also defeated the favourites and representatives of political parties. Martyn Underhill easily won in Dorset and Kevin Hurley narrowly beat the Conservatives in Surrey.
However, former Deputy Chief Constable Ron Hogg won in Durham but as the Labour representative. Former Assistant Chief Constable John Dwyer (Conservative) became the latest former police officer to be elected when Cheshire`s results were declared.
Labour won through in the large urban forces of Greater Manchester, Merseyside, South Yorkshire, West Midlands and West Yorkshire.
Labour was stunned as the Tories took Humberside where former Deputy Prime Minister Lord Prescott was standing. Conservative wins were also recorded in Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, Cumbria, Dyfed Powys, Devon and Cornwall, Essex, Hertfordshire, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, North Yorkshire, Thames Valley and Wiltsire, while Bedfordshire was surprisingly won by Labour.
The Liberal Democrats suffered a disastrous run of results, picking up no PCC candidates in any of the 24 forces they contested, and frequently finishing behind UKIP and other smaller parties.
Half of the four Welsh forces will be headed by independent PCCs, while numerous areas recorded significantly higher percentages of spoiled ballots. Some returning officers said they had seen significant numbers of ballot papers with essays written on them.
The last area to declare a result was Devon and Cornwall which saw 17,587 rejected ballot papers out of just over 200,000 counted.
The turnout became the main issue for commentators as the votes so far collated show average turnouts between 12 and 20 per cent. In Stoke-on-Trent less than ten per cent of those registered actually voted. In Newport and a number of other areas, polling stations reported seeing no voters at all.
For in-depth analysis and comment read next weeks edition of Police Professional where we will have interviews with some of the winners and senior leaders of the service.