Labour continues its run of victories in the local elections, adding the East Midlands to its list of successes.
Claire Ward was elected with 181,040 votes, 51,708 more than Conservative candidate Ben Bradley MP, making up a healthy 40 per cent share from across the region.
Speaking at the Nottingham Tennis Centre, the former Watford MP said “We have been left behind.
“When people think about the Midlands they often think about the West Midlands.
“I’m here now to make sure we put the East Midlands firmly on the map.”
Nottingham Tennis Centre
GB News
She added the country is “ready for change” as it puts trust in a “changed Labour party”.
The new authority is made up of 17 councils from Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, including the two cities, Derby and Nottingham, bringing new powers and funding to the region.
Around £4billion has been earmarked for the fledgling authority, in which the mayor will have greater control over transport, education, and housing.
Claire Ward said: “I will be making sure that each of those areas feel the benefit of having the power and funding from Westminster.”
“It’s clear that we know our region better than people in Whitehall and Westminster, so we need to have the decision-making power along with the funding so we can make those priorities, not competing with other projects in other cities.”
Polling station in Nottingham
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The new Mayor stated that the region is home to key battleground constituencies, primarily in the Red Wall where Labour voters abandoned the party in 2019 in favour of the Conservatives under Boris Johnson.
Green candidate, Frank Adlington-Stringer narrowly beat Reform’s candidate, Alan Graves, by 1,465, to claim third place.
Independent, Matt Relf, and, Liberal Democrat, Helen Louise Tamblyn-Saville followed in fifth and sixth place respectively.
Turnout across the region was below a third of the electorate, just 27.6 per cent of the 1,637,644 electorate.
Some local people claimed they didn’t know about the election or what they were voting for.