2024 Tees Valley mayoral election
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| Turnout | 30.80%[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Result by local authorities | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The 2024 Tees Valley mayoral election was held on 2 May 2024 to elect the mayor of the Tees Valley, part of the 2024 United Kingdom local elections. Conservative incumbent mayor and member of the House of Lords, Ben Houchen, was re-elected with 53.6% of the vote.
Background[edit]
The mayor serves as the directly elected leader of the Tees Valley Combined Authority and has powers considered lesser than those of other mayors such as Greater Manchester and the West of England. The mayor has power over an annual £15 million investment from the national government over a 30-year period, as well as control over adult skills training, social care and a consolidated transport budget- giving the ability to acquire bus services.[2] The mayor does not supersede or overrule the five boroughs within the Tees Valley city-region.[3][4]
The first election for the role in 2017 resulting in a victory for the Conservative candidate Ben Houchen, who was re-elected with an increased majority in the 2021 election. That election had originally been due to be held in 2020, but had been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[5]
Electoral system[edit]
Following the Elections Act 2022, the 2024 election will take place using first-past-the-post voting where voters choose a single candidate and the candidate with the greatest number of votes is elected mayor.[6] Prior elections had employed the supplementary vote system.
Opinion polling[edit]
| Dates conducted |
Pollster | Client | Sample size |
Con | Lab | Reform | Lib Dems | Green | Others | Lead |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12–29 Apr 2024 | YouGov | N/A | 924 | 51% | 44% | – | 5% | – | – | 7 |
| 17–19 Apr 2024 | Redfield and Wilton | N/A | 1,000 | 47% | 47% | – | 6% | – | – | Tie |
| 9–19 Feb 2024 | Censuswide[a] | Yasper | 1,000 | 23% | 55% | 9% | 6% | 6% | 1% | 32 |
| 6 May 2021 | 2021 election | – | 72.8% | 27.2% | – | – | – | – | 45.6 | |
- ^ This poll was unweighted, and included 16–17 year olds.[7]
Candidates[edit]
Conservative[edit]
Ben Houchen, who had served as mayor since the inaugural election in 2017, was re-selected as the Conservative candidate in March 2023.[8] Houchen said that if re-elected he would replace the University Hospital of North Tees with a new hospital,[9] however the government later confirmed that the mayor does not have the powers to build a hospital.[10]
Labour[edit]
Chris McEwan who previously worked for the NHS[11] is the deputy leader of Darlington Borough Council. He was announced as Labour's candidate in November 2023. McEwan was selected by members over the trade union organiser Luke Henman.[12]
McEwan who was raised in Middlesbrough said that his priorities would be transport and community,[13] and also said he would bring more openness and transparency to the Tees Valley Combined Authority.[11]
Liberal Democrats[edit]
Simon Thorley, a businessman from Darlington, general election candidate for Darlington, was selected to also stand for the Lib Dems for Tees Valley mayor.[14][15]
Green Party[edit]
Sally Bunce was selected to stand as the Green Party candidate but withdrew at close of nominations for personal reasons, with insufficient time to nominate a different candidate. The local Green Parties have not endorsed any other candidates, despite unsubstantiated allegations made by local Conservative MP Simon Clarke of an electoral pact with Labour.[16][17][18][19][20]
Result[edit]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | Ben Houchen | 81,930 | 53.6 |  19.1
| |
| Labour Co-op | Chris McEwan | 63,141 | 41.3 |  14.1
| |
| Liberal Democrats | Simon Thorley | 7,679 | 5.0 | 5.0
| |
| Turnout | 153,591 | 30.8 | -3.2 | ||
By local authority[edit]
Darlington[edit]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | Ben Houchen | 14,233 | 54.5 | 20.0
| |
| Labour Co-op | Chris McEwan | 10,014 | 38.4 | 12.9
| |
| Liberal Democrats | Simon Thorley | 1,849 | 7.1 | 7.1
| |
Hartlepool[edit]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | Ben Houchen | 10,074 | 50.9 | 23.6
| |
| Labour Co-op | Chris McEwan | 8,732 | 44.2 | 16.8
| |
| Liberal Democrats | Simon Thorley | 972 | 4.9 | 4.9
| |
Middlesbrough[edit]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | Ben Houchen | 13,285 | 48.4 | 20.2
| |
| Labour Co-op | Chris McEwan | 12,749 | 46.5 | 15.1
| |
| Liberal Democrats | Simon Thorley | 1,390 | 5.1 | 5.1
| |
Redcar and Cleveland[edit]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | Ben Houchen | 15,987 | 53.9 | 21.1
| |
| Labour Co-op | Chris McEwan | 12,015 | 40.5 | 15.5
| |
| Liberal Democrats | Simon Thorley | 1,639 | 5.5 | 5.5
| |
Stockton-on-Tees[edit]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | Ben Houchen | 28,351 | 56.9% | 15.8
| |
| Labour Co-op | Chris McEwan | 19,631 | 39.4% | 12.1
| |
| Liberal Democrats | Simon Thorley | 1,829 | 3.7% | 3.7
| |
References[edit]
- ^ "Tees Valley Combined Authority Mayoral election". Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council. Retrieved 3 May 2024.
- ^ "Tees Valley". Centre for Cities. Archived from the original on 10 April 2019. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
- ^ "What the Mayor Does". Tees Valley Combined Authority. Archived from the original on 15 October 2019. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
- ^ "Directly elected mayors". Local Government Association. Archived from the original on 27 March 2019. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
- ^ Metcalfe, Alex (13 March 2020). "Coronavirus sees Teesside mayoral and police chief elections delayed". TeessideLive. Reach plc. Archived from the original on 13 September 2020. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
- ^ "Elections Act 2022: Section 13", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, 2022 c. 37 (s. 13)
- ^ "Tees Valley Poll Misleading..." Twitter. Retrieved 8 March 2024.
- ^ White, Andrew (29 March 2023). "Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen reselected to contest 2024 election". The Northern Echo. Archived from the original on 8 April 2024. Retrieved 15 January 2024.
- ^ Allan, Dave (9 January 2024). "Mayor's election pledge to build new hospital". Tees Business. Retrieved 15 January 2024.
- ^ Jones, Leigh. "Government says Ben Houchen 'does not have powers to build hospital'".
- ^ a b Brown, Mark; correspondent, Mark Brown North of England (10 April 2024). "'We have to get the basics right': Labour's Chris McEwan in Tees Valley". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 28 April 2024.
- ^ Jones, Morgan (7 November 2023). "Labour candidate for Tees Valley mayor: Chris McEwan picked to fight Houchen". LabourList. Archived from the original on 3 January 2024. Retrieved 15 January 2024.
- ^ Burgess, Tom (12 September 2023). "Darlington Labour councillor puts name forward to campaign against Ben Houchen". Darlington and Stockton Times. Archived from the original on 15 January 2024. Retrieved 15 January 2024.
- ^ Burgess, Tom (31 January 2024). "Liberal Democrats announce their candidate for Tees Valley Mayor". Northern Echo. Archived from the original on 1 February 2024. Retrieved 1 February 2024.
- ^ Corrigan, Naomi (31 January 2024). "Lib dem mayoral candidate sets out top priorities". Teesside Live. Archived from the original on 1 February 2024. Retrieved 1 February 2024.
- ^ Simon, Clarke (4 April 2024). "Green candidate to stand down". Twitter. Archived from the original on 4 April 2024. Retrieved 4 April 2024.
- ^ Jones, Leigh (9 December 2023). "Green Party announce candidate to challenge Ben Houchen in Tees Valley election". Yorkshire Post. Archived from the original on 15 January 2024. Retrieved 15 January 2024.
- ^ "Instagram".
- ^ https://www.facebook.com/share/p/DowvGCu88aUUWkRi/?mibextid=WC7FNe
- ^ https://www.facebook.com/share/p/Y5eBEZ66DQRwwL9K/?mibextid=WC7FNe
