West Midlands mayoral election on ‘knife edge’ as recount under way

West Midlands mayoral election on ‘knife edge’ as recount under way

yeah this is on a knife edge we’re told by senior sources that the recount is happening because Andy Street the Conservative candidate has asked for it now last night both teams both labor and conservatives were telling us off the Record that look it was always looking tight but what they both thought was that Andy Street had just pipped it the reasoning was that there was a really strong independent candidate here who has picked up votes from labor votes from discharged voters who are annoyed with labor STS on Gaza well that candidate has been doing well in in a lot of the results we’ve seen but we’ve also seen that actually the labor candidate Richard Parker has been doing very very well it has been very tense here the mood has flipped throughout the day earlier on when I was talking to senior labor sources they sort of resigned themselves Rita oh we think we might not just got might just not have got it that has changed and very tense Tory team here but of course this isn’t really just about what happens in the West Midlands the prevailing wisdom was look it’s been a bad set of local election results but the conservatives held the majority up in t-site they were more than likely to to keep the majority here and by doing that RI sunet has done just enough to quell all the the rumors of rebels and his back benches calling for his head if Andy Street does not keep this seat that prevailing wisdom no longer holds this is not how today was supposed to play out an hour after the announcement was meant to have taken place a recount socalled bundle checks for all seven West Midland regions and for centry a full recount of every vote it was always going to be close but the expectation just 24 hours ago from both labor and the conservatives this man the labor candidate Richard Parker was not going to win his opposition the Tory incumbent Andy Street would just hang on but this evening think he going to go your way oh my God I normally right I would obfuscate even when I knew the result because that’s what we do uh and that’s fake uh I genuinely don’t know the answer to this question this will be the first time I have ever had a returning officer announced something and to have an actual real reaction it seems to me like it’s close possibly recount I don’t know Tories are in the doldrums in the National polls right now this isn’t a natural Tory stronghold shouldn’t you be walking this oh I mean look there are a number of different factors that you know uh that have been wildly talked about uh including the the nature of Independence and the situation in Gaza that undoubtedly will have made uh this harder here uh but also that could be the deciding factor I mean it I would be lying if I said it wasn’t a problem but I would also be lying if I said it was the only thing and this is the independent candidate so many were predicting could cost labor a victory good because the labor party have for too long now taken advantage of the inner city areas they automatically think that people who blindly vote for them Birmingham city council is a bankrupt Council forget about the issues of Gaza what I have been talking about spreading awareness about but Birmingham itself is has labor has failed in Birmingham so so yeah if I’ve taken vote from them they deserve it but do you think it was because of Labor response to Gaza that some of their voters might not have turned up for them and turn to you yes a lot of people who’ve never voted before voted for me in this election this race has never been straightforward while the conservatives nationally have been hit hard in the polls the Tory mayor in West Midlands hasn’t suffered as hard the reason many believe a disconnect between the man and the party so you’ve been a lifelong labor supporter right yes yeah but Andy Street uh I voted for him because not because of the to party I I consider him as an independent person so is an Andy Street win an Andy Street win or a conservative win I think it’s an Andy Street win uh on the strength of his personality and energy rather than um an association with a conservative party I do vote conservative so you vote conservative you voted for Andy stre in the past but this time around no no no um this time around I’m not really going down the party Alliance how did you vote um well Andy Street has done a lot of good things but I couldn’t vote for the party tonight Tories in the West Midlands wait frantically for the fate of their mayor Tories in Westminster wonder what a loss here might mean for the fate of their prime minister we can now talk to the deputy foreign secretary Andrew Mitchell who’s in Birmingham Andrew Mitchell this result is now long overdue has it all gone a bit Pete Tong well I think it’s an Open Secret uh that there there is a recount going on so we know that either Andy Street has W or that he has nearly one because obviously the Voting is extremely tight Andy Street has been an absolutely brilliant mayor for the West Midlands he’s a fantastic example of good conservative government in action and obviously I’m very much hoping that the recount will deliver a seat to him right and so the Tories did ask for the recount it is you that asked for it well I I’m not sure that I’m allowed to tell you that but uh We’ve there is a there is a recount there is a recount going on I can confirm that okay so obviously there are concerns within HQ that and I noticed you talked about him in the past tense there that that it hasn’t quite gone his way well I I’m I’m not saying what the result is because I don’t know what the result is that will depend upon the recap but what I am saying is that the fact that he has either one or nearly one uh is an extraordinary result for the conservative party this is an area of the country where labor has to win and win big to get into Downing Street the fact that Andy Street has clearly either one or nearly one is a very significant factor for the conservative it does take quite some hutspot to describe a defeat as a nearly win but um I mean if he if he does nearly win as you put it or or loses as other people might put it um that’s pretty catastrophic for riak isn’t it and will revive um speculation from his plotters about his leadership well if you look at the polls uh nationally uh and you notice that Andy Street has done many times as well as those polls suggest this is a real election it’s not an opinion poll that suggests that those who have already casted what the result of the next election will be will have to think again and what I’m saying is that the brilliant mayor that we’ve had in the West Midlands has shown conservatism in action and when you move from the politics of protest to the politics of choice people I think when the general election comes will be making a very different decision right so what do you say to the plotters who are circling right now and waiting for that result and if it doesn’t go the way you want which sounds very much like it might not they will revive that speculation as soon as they get back to Westminster well I read in the newspaper that the plotters have decided to pull behind the Prime Minister and that was this morning when this looked in the bag well I I think it was yesterday actually but I think I think that that’s very good news if that is the case I think to do anything other than support the Prime Minister would be self-indulgence of a very high order indeed and it’s clear that there will be an election coming up quite soon we all need to get the behind the Prime Minister and uh deliver on his plan and I think it’s worth making the point that on all these big issues the Prime Minister and the conservative government do have a plan I don’t see any plan at all in what K starma and the labor party are saying they’re just hoping to carry the vs across the slippery floor and get to number 10 saying as little as possible at the general election I don’t think it works like that okay you you’ve praised Andy Street to the hill he’s your kind of conservative a one nation conservative very much on the center ground and he describes himself that way as well um some of your colleagues say and they will redouble these calls if the well the result is close so they’ll redouble these calls anyway um that they’re saying that the party should adopt a sort of harder edged harder noosed more right-wing conservatism what do you say to that suggestion I well the conservative party is a broad church and I am very fond of my colleagues on the right of the party who take a slightly different view to me but we’re all conservatives and we’re all determined to win the next election and that’s why I am sure we will all be supporting the Prime Minister as we come towards that election we need to pull together and deliver on his plan Andrew Mitchell thank you very much for joining us well that’s the West Midlands and very tense it is too but now let’s turn to the mayor races in London and Manchester in a moment we’ll speak to Minnie Stevenson in London but first to our north of England correspondent CLA Fallon in Manchester where labors Andy Burnham has won a third term cla a third term yes with a big majority but Andy Burnham’s win here while not at all being a surprise did see his share of the vote reduce and I’ll come back to that in a few moments we’ve also had results today in the Electoral uh in the maral elections in the Liverpool City region West Yorkshire and South York where the labor Metro Mayors have all been voted back in and they’ve all increased their share of the vote another thing that’s interest in the result over on Mery side today the greens almost beat the Tories into second place and in the local elections across England the green party now has a record number of seats more than 800 but back to the result here in Manchester today for the Metro M of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham back in for a third turn but as I say although he is probably the most high-profile the most wellknown of the Metro Mayes his vote share did go down not as big a win as it was last time and so the story of Labor gains has not been repeated everywhere with the party’s position over Gaza are seen as being a key factor in some areas that’s one of the things I asked Andy Burnham about earlier just after his win had been announced it’s an emphatic endorsement of what we’re doing in Greater Manchester the change we’re bringing here you know the fact that we’re growing faster as a city region than the UK economy yeah I I take it as a kind of huge endorsement of not just what I’m doing but what all of us here in Greater Manchester are are doing your vote shares down why do you think that is uh it’s only a little bit to be honest but it is it is a little down I think you know the coming out of the pandemic and some of the things that happened here in the pandemic maybe sort of you know brought over to people in a way that um you know perhaps is not what you get in more normal normal times I mean you say that your vote share was only down by a bit but that is in the context of other places where labor are seeing these huge increases in their vote do you think was a factor I think it undeniably was there’s no point in in saying uh otherwise I I won every W in Greater maner in 2021 I won every award but one in this uh in this election so and that one had as a factor I think so yes and there’s no point in saying not and I heard it on the doorstep I heard the hurt in the Muslim Community and in our Jewish Community because pretty much unlike anywhere else in England outside of London you know we are a city region that has a large Muslim Community and a large Jewish Community I said something in my speech that I really want to come back to I see it as my job not to do what other politicians are doing these days picking sides in culture wars and sort of you know almost like kind of arguing the toss every day on social media as mayor it’s really important that I do my best to understand and represent all of our communities and try and bring them uh into dialogue and bring them together and that’s a a critically important part of my role one other local Council result to tell you about that we’ve had this afternoon from Warrington so not too far away from here where the Tories have been all but wiped out on the local Council going from 10 seats to just one wow CLA thanks very much for joining us well labor sadik Khan has also won an historic third term as London mayor and despite a conservative campaign attacking his expansion of London’s ultr low emission Zone many areas saw a swing to labor Minnie Stevenson is at City Hall in London for as many yes Kathy as you say a historic win for sadon who has won by bigger majority than he’s ever won by before and in many areas of London there has been a swing to labor now if you were to believe the internet last night then both sides were actually saying lot of chatter about you know this being too close to call with some even saying that Susan Hall the Conservative candidate could win in a dramatic Victory but actually what happened was there there was a lot of analysis and it seems to be that in the outer London burrowers actually they tend to normally vote Tori and the turnout was a lot higher whereas in the inner lond bar is at 10 to vote for sadik Khan the turnout was lower so there was anxiety around that there was also a strong sense that sadik Khan who has been expanding the ules which has been very unpopular with people would mean he was punished at the polls but instead he actually won in some areas where he has never won before for labor in a meral election and about an hour ago he took to the stage to claim his victory and I have to say there was a huge amount of tension in the air he was booed by some of his opponents as sadique Khan said that some of his Rivals had run a divisive campaign and he threw forward to the general election for the last eight years London has been swimming against the tide of a Tory government and now with a labor party that’s ready to govern again under K starma it’s time for Richie sunak to give the public a choice a general election will not just pave the path to a new direction for our country but it will make bold action londoners want to see a reality now there was also an anxiety that sik Khan would be punished in the polls for the Labor’s wider foreign policy in particular sakir stama stance on Israel but instead he is won by a majority across the board here and there are in fact tonight people are asking questions in the conservative party why Susan was was chosen as a Liz trust loving Donald Trump fan in labor leaning London so tonight sadik Khan celebrates a historic Victory mini thanks very much

Our Senior Political Correspondent Paul McNamara joined us live from Birmingham to discuss that recount in the West Midlands.
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