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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. The Conservative incumbent mayor and member of the House of Lords, Ben Houchen, was re-elected with 53.6% of the vote. [2]
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. [3] The mayor does not supersede or overrule the five boroughs within the Tees Valley city-region. [4] [5]
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. [6]
Following the Elections Act 2022, the 2024 election took place using first-past-the-post voting. [7] Prior elections had employed the supplementary vote system.
| Dates conducted | Pollster | Client | Sample size | Con | Lab | Reform | Lib Dems | Green | Others | Lead |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 May 2024 | 2024 election | – | 53.6% | 41.3% | – | 5.0% | – | – | 12.3 | |
| 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 | |
Ben Houchen, who had served as mayor since the inaugural election in 2017, was re-selected as the Conservative candidate in March 2023. [9] Houchen said that if re-elected he would replace the University Hospital of North Tees with a new hospital, [10] however the government later confirmed that the mayor does not have the powers to build a hospital. [11]
Chris McEwan who previously worked for the NHS [12] 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. [13]
McEwan who was raised in Middlesbrough said that his priorities would be transport and community, [14] and also said he would bring more openness and transparency to the Tees Valley Combined Authority. [12]
Simon Thorley, a businessman from Darlington, general election candidate for Darlington, was selected to also stand for the Lib Dems for Tees Valley mayor. [15] [16]
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. [17] [18] [19] [20] [21]
| 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 | ||
| 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 | |
| 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 | |
| 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 | |
| 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 | |
| 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 | |
Redcar is a seaside town on the Yorkshire Coast in the Redcar and Cleveland unitary authority. It is in the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire, England, and is located 7 miles (11 km) east of Middlesbrough.
Teesside University is a public university with its main campus in Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire in North East England. It was officially opened as Constantine Technical College in 1930, before becoming a polytechnic in 1969, and finally granted university status in 1992 by the Privy Council.
Tees Valley is a combined authority area in North East England, around the lower River Tees. The area is not a geographical valley; the local term for the valley is Teesdale. The combined authority covers five council areas: Darlington, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland and Stockton-on-Tees.
Teesside International Airport, formerly Durham Tees Valley Airport, is a minor international airport in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. It primarily serves Teesside south and mid County Durham and north North Yorkshire.
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The Tees Valley Metro was a project to upgrade the Tees Valley Line and sections of the Esk Valley Line and Durham Coast Line to provide a faster and more frequent service across the North of England. In the initial phases the services would have been heavy rail mostly along existing alignments. The later phase would have introduced tram-trains to allow street running. The project was backed by all the local authorities through which the system would have run: Darlington, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar & Cleveland and Stockton-on-Tees. Support was also forthcoming from the Department for Transport. The project was cancelled due to lack of funding, with the focus moving to the Northern Rail franchise.
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Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council is the local authority of the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees, which straddles the ceremonial counties of County Durham and North Yorkshire in England. Since 1996 the council has been a unitary authority, being a district council which also performs the functions of a county council. It therefore provides services including Council Tax billing, libraries, social services, town planning, waste collection and disposal, and it is a local education authority. Since 2016 the council has been a member of the Tees Valley Combined Authority, which has been led by the directly elected Tees Valley Mayor since 2017.
The inaugural Tees Valley mayoral election was held on 4 May 2017 to elect the mayor of the Tees Valley Combined Authority. The mayor was elected by the supplementary vote system. Subsequent elections will be held in May 2021 and every four years after 2024.
The Tees Valley Mayor is a combined authority mayor in England, first elected in May 2017. The mayor is leader of the Tees Valley Combined Authority.
Ben Houchen, Baron Houchen of High Leven, is a British Conservative politician and life peer. He has been Tees Valley Mayor since 2017, winning the inaugural mayoral election in the combined authority. Houchen was re-elected in 2021 and won a third term in 2024.
The 2021 Tees Valley mayoral election was held on 6 May 2021 to elect the Tees Valley Mayor on the same day as other local elections across the country. The mayor was elected by the supplementary vote. The election was originally due to take place in May 2020, but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Borough of Middlesbrough is a unitary authority area with borough status in the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire, England, based around the town of Middlesbrough in the north of the county. Middlesbrough Council became a unitary authority in 1996. The borough is part of the Tees Valley Combined Authority, along with the boroughs of Stockton-on-Tees, Redcar and Cleveland, Hartlepool and Darlington. There are two parish councils in the area of the borough of Middlesbrough, Nunthorpe and Stainton and Thornton respectively.
Middlesbrough Development Corporation (MDC) is a publicly-owned mayoral development corporation created to fund, manage, and accelerate regeneration in Middlesbrough town centre and Middlehaven, England.
The 2023 Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council election took place on 4 May 2023 to elect all 56 members of Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council, a unitary authority which straddles the ceremonial counties of County Durham and North Yorkshire in England. This was on the same day as other local elections across England.
The 2024 United Kingdom local elections took place on 2 May 2024 to choose 2,658 councillors on 107 councils in England, 11 directly elected mayors in England, the 25 members of the London Assembly, and 37 police and crime commissioners in England and Wales. The 2024 Blackpool South parliamentary by-election was held on the same day. These local elections were the last set of routine elections before the general election.
