Labour’s Kim McGuinness has won the North East mayoral election, defeating former Labour-turned-independent candidate Jamie Driscoll.
In the first contest for the new mayoralty, Ms McGuinness secured 185,051 votes, defeating Mr Driscoll by a margin of just under 60,000 votes.
The election saw controversy for Labour after it excluded Mr Driscoll as a candidate despite his position as the Mayor of North of Tyne. The decision provoked a backlash from his supporters, who regarded him as the victim of an attempt to purge left-wingers from the party.
In Thursday’s election, he secured 126,652 votes, with Conservative candidate Guy Renner-Thompson coming third on 52,446 and Reform UK’s Paul Donaghy fourth on 41,147.
In her acceptance speech, Ms McGuinness thanked activists, her staff as Northumbria’s police and crime commissioner, and her family.
Mr Driscoll said the result showed there was “a huge appetite for pragmatic transformative policies that reduce inequality and treat people with respect”.