Tory Ben Houchen Wins Tees Valley Mayoral Election

The Conservative party's Ben Houchen has been re-elected as Mayor of the Tees Valley.

Houchen received 81,930 votes, while Labour candidate Chis McEwan received 63,141, it was announced on Friday afternoon. 

In percentage terms, this puts Houchen on 54 and Labour on 41 — a significant narrowing of the last time the mayorality was contested in 2021.

Speaking following the announcement, Houchen said: “I am absolutely humbled by everybody that voted for me.

"Teesside is a place where I was born, I grew up, other than a very short sabbatical to Newcastle for four years and then I came straight back, it is a place where I am going to be for the rest of my life. 

“And to be re-elected for a third term in my home, in my community, is absolutely the greatest honour that anybody could ever give me.”

There had been suggestions in the run-up to Thursday's vote that Houchen was at risk of losing the mayorality to Labour, despite winning the last election with over 70 per cent of the vote.

Defeat for the Tory mayor would have been seen as another major blow to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in what is shaping up to a very bruising set of local elections for the Conservatives. 

The Conservative party saw its vote collapse in the Blackpool South by-election, where Labour's Chris Webb became the northern seat's new MP. 

Elsewhere, the Conservatives are set to lose hundreds of council seats across the country as results come in over the weekend, seemingly reflecting Labour's large, double-digit leads in the opinion polls.

However, Houchen has managed to see off the challenge from McEwan, who is deputy leader of Darlington Council, to secure a third term in office as Tees Valley mayor.

In the run-up to Thursday's vote, Houchen had sought to distance his