The Chamberlain News

Jamieson victorious as Labour win West Midlands police commissioner election

David Jamieson has been re-elected Police and Crime Commissioner for the West Midlands.

The ex- MP and Transport Minister took advantage of strong support for Labour across the Midlands and saw off his Conservative, UKIP and Independent rivals, although he narrowly failed to win on the first ballot.

He was the first choice of 49.9 percent of voters and finished ahead of Tory candidate Les Jones, with 25.8 per cent.
Under the supplementary vote system of PR, the two candidates with the most votes, Mr Jamieson and Mr Jones, went through to a second round.

All of the other candidates were eliminated and their second choice votes redistributed and added to the first round totals.

This enabled Mr Jamieson to easily beat his Conservative opponent Les Jones by 306,578 votes to 176,922.

One of the features of the PCC election was the number of spoilt votes cast, possibly indicating public disregard for the police commissioner system.

In Birmingham, 11,704 ballot papers were rejected, more than five per cent of the total.

Of these, more than half were declared invalid not because they had been deliberately spoilt but because voters had failed to select a first preference.

Mr Jamieson will serve for four years, although there is a possibility his role could be transferred to the West Midlands metro mayor who is due to be elected next year.

Mr Jamieson, who is also a former Solihull council cabinet member, was defending a post he first won at a by-election in August 2014 at following the death of Labour PCC Bob Jones.

In his manifesto Mr Jamieson promised to recruit 1,000 new police officers if he was re-elected.

He stated that neighbourhood policing lies at the core of keeping communities safe and that “residents need to know officers in their area”.

Police commissioners have three main roles:

• Set the priorities for policing.
• Decide the budget for West Midlands Police.
• Hold the Chief Constable to account.
• Produce a Police and Crime Plan.

The Conservative candidate was Les Jones, a former leader of Dudley Council.

The UKIP candidate was Sandwell branch chairman Pete Durnell.

Andy Flynn stood as an Independent candidate.

First round police commissioner election votes from each of the seven metropolitan councils:

Birmingham: Durnell 28,236 Flynn 16,056 Jamieson 120,219 Jones 48,268 Rejected 11,704

Coventry: Durnell 9,878 Flynn 5,459 Jamieson 31,578 Jones 14,151 Rejected 2,979

Sandwell: Durnell 11,702 Flynn 2,662 Jamieson 36,031 Jones 8,622 Rejected 2,332

Wolverhampton: Durnell 8,347 Flynn 2,914, Jamieson 25,468, Jones 11,790 Rejected 2,034

Walsall: Durnell 11,149 Flynn 3,596 Jamieson 24,375 Jones 16,157 Rejected 2,958

Solihull: Durnell 8,587 Flynn 5,614 Jamieson 12,251 Jones 20,300 Rejected 2,714

Dudley: Durnell 15,952 Flynn 4,177 Jamieson 25,750 Jones 23,363 Rejected 3,625

Total votes cast in first stage:

Durnell 93,851 Flynn 40,478 Jamieson 275,672 Jones 142,651 Rejected 28,346

Second round:

Birmingham: Jamieson 10,801 Jones 11,139

Coventry: Jamieson 4,027 Jones 3,722

Sandwell: Jamieson 3,439 Jones 3,056

Dudley: Jamieson 4,181 Jones 5,261

Solihull: Jamieson 2,666 Jones 4,626

Wolverhampton: Jamieson 2,616; Jones 2,774

Walsall: Jamieson 3,176 Jones 3,693

31.87% turnout