2025 Cambridgeshire and Peterborough mayoral election

2025 Cambridgeshire and Peterborough mayoral election

←  2021 1 May 2025

Majority party Minority party Third party   Ref Lab Candidate Paul Bristow Ryan Coogan Anna Smith Party Conservative Reform UK Labour Co-op Popular vote 60,243 49,647 42,671 Percentage 28.4% 23.4% 20.1% Swing 12.1pp New party 12.7pp   Fourth party Fifth party   LD Grn Candidate Lorna Dupré Bob Ensch Party Liberal Democrats Green Popular vote 41,611 18,255 Percentage 19.6% 8.6% Swing 7.1pp New party

Area covered by election

Mayor before election Nik Johnson Labour Elected mayor Paul Bristow Conservative

The 2025 Cambridgeshire and Peterborough mayoral election took place on 1 May 2025 to elect the Mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. The Conservative candidate and former MP Paul Bristow won, gaining the seat from Labour. This was held on the same day as other local elections. ^[1]

Background

The mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough serves as the directly elected leader of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority. The mayor has power over investment directly to the combined authority from the government of £20 million a year for 30 years from 2017. The mayor does not incorporate the Cambridgeshire Police and Crime Commissioner into the post.

In the 2021 Cambridgeshire and Peterborough mayoral election, the Labour candidate Nik Johnson was elected with 32.8% of the vote in the first round and 51.3% of the second round vote. In early 2025, Johnson announced he would not be running for a second term.

Electoral system

In 2017 and 2021, the Mayor was elected using a supplementary vote system, in which voters may express a first and second preference for candidates. The 2019-24 Conservative government abolished this system, meaning the 2025 election used first-past-the-post. ^[2]

Candidates

Confirmed

• Anna Smith (Labour) ^[3]
• Paul Bristow (Conservative) ^[4]
• Lorna Dupré (Liberal Democrats) ^[5]
• Bob Ensch (Green Party) ^[6]
• Ryan Coogan (Reform UK) ^[7]

Declined

• Nik Johnson (Labour), incumbent Mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough

Results

2025 Cambridgeshire and Peterborough mayoral election ^{[8] [9]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Paul Bristow	60,243	28.4	12.1
	Reform UK	Ryan Coogan	49,647	23.4	N/A
	Labour Co-op	Anna Smith	42,671	20.1	12.7
	Liberal Democrats	Lorna Dupré	41,611	19.6	7.1
	Green	Bob Ensch	18,255	8.6	N/A
Majority			10,596	5.0	–0.5
Rejected ballots			2,145
Turnout			212,427	32.9	–4.1
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	7.8

Opinion polling

Dates conducted	Pollster	Client	Sample size	Bristow Con	Smith Lab	Dupré LD	Coogan Ref	Ensch Grn	Oth	Lead
29–30 Apr	Find Out Now [10]	N/A	900	32%	17%	19%	23%	9%	–	9
15–23 Apr	More in Common [11]	The Observer	997	30%	23%	20%	18%	9%	–	7
9–23 Apr 2025	YouGov	N/A	1165	32%	19%	18%	20%	10%	–	12
6–10 Mar 2025	Labour Together [a]	N/A	822	31%	27%	20%	13%	6%	3%	4
6 May 2021	2021 mayoral election (1st round)		–	40.5%	32.8%	26.7%	–	–	–	7.7

1. Labour Together is not a BPC pollster.

See also

• Cambridgeshire County Council elections

References

1. "Cambridgeshire and Peterborough's mayor in the hot seat". BBC News. 2024-11-18. Retrieved 2024-11-29.
2. "First Past the Post to be introduced for all local mayoral and police and crime commissioner elections". Gov.uk. 2021-09-15. Retrieved 2025-03-02.
3. "Anna Smith selected as Labour candidate for mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough". Cambridge Independent. 2025-02-21. Retrieved 2025-02-21.
4. "Ex-MP Paul Bristow to run for Cambridgeshire & Peterborough mayor". BBC News. 2024-11-25. Retrieved 2024-11-29.
5. "Liberal Democrat councillor to run for mayor". BBC News. 2025-01-27. Retrieved 2025-02-21.
6. "Green Party selects candidate to run for mayor". BBC News. 2025-02-23. Retrieved 2025-03-25.
7. "Nigel Farage visits Cambridgeshire and gets a temporary 'British bulldog' tattoo as Ryan Coogan is unveiled as Reform UK's mayoral candidate". Cambridge Independent. 2025-04-01. Retrieved 2025-04-05.
8. "Conservative Paul Bristow wins Cambridgeshire and Peterborough mayoral election from Labour". ITV News. 2 May 2025. Retrieved 3 May 2025.
9. "Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Mayor election results". BBC News. Retrieved 3 May 2025.
10. "Cambridgeshire and Peterborough mayoral poll". Find Out Now. 2025-05-01. Retrieved 2025-05-02.
11. "More in Common mayoral election pollig". More in Common. 2025-04-27. Retrieved 2025-04-27.