Mr Street sought to distance himself from the Conservative Party brand during his campaign and instead ran on a personal platform, highlighting an endorsement from former prime minister Boris Johnson.
Tory incumbent Andy Street has suffered a shock defeat to Labour in the West Midlands mayoral election after a partial recount was ordered.
Labour’s Richard Parker beat Mr Street by just 1,508 votes – 0.25% – to deliver a major blow to Rishi Sunak in the key electoral battleground after a hammering in the local elections.
With the race neck-and-neck, in the end it came down to the results in one borough – Labour-supporting Sandwell.
“This is the most important thing I will ever do,” Mr Parker said in his acceptance speech.
“I promise you that I will deliver jobs,” he added.
He told UAE Breaking News he would take buses “back into public control” and deliver the “largest programme of social housing we’ve had in this region for more than 40 years”.
And he thanked his predecessor, who he said had “led this region through a number of great challenges and you deserve great credit for that”
Mr Street told UAE Breaking News he was “personally devastated” and said he had “put everything into this” and “truly believed we were making real progress across the region”. .
He said this was entirely my campaign” andI do not seek to shift responsibility to anyone else.” ” I hoped.
Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer said: This is a very important series of elections and the last one before the general election.”We had to show we are making progress.” “We showed that we are making progress.”
Labour’s acting national campaign co-ordinator Ellie Reeves said it was an “important victory”.
She added: “People across the country are voting for change and the message is clear: It’s time for a general election and a Labor government to restore our country’s future.”
Labour’s Sadiq Khan said: I agreed with A’s opinion. Her convincing victory over her Conservative rival Susan Hall sealed her historic third term as Mayor of London.
Rishi Sunak said: “It’s a shame to lose a committed Conservative MP and Andy Street from the West Midlands.”
However, he argued that “as a nation, we are at a tipping point.”
The Prime Minister said: “Our plan is to more than halve inflation, put an average of £900 worth of tax cuts into people’s pockets, put a triple lock on the state pension and pass the Rwanda Bill into law.” .
Illegal immigration is preparing for its first flight, legal immigration is down, and defense spending is up.
Still, these results will increase pressure on Mr. Sunak to repeat his success. ” Conservative Ben Houchen remained mayor of Tees Valley.
UAE Breaking News deputy political editor Sam Coates said he had seen the message from a WhatsApp group of Conservative MPs.
One of the former cabinet ministers, Simon Clarke, who said Mr Coates wanted Rishi Sunak to resign”, said:This result is terrible and if he were to campaign in the same way it would be a huge wake-up call.” It should happen,” he said. 1 In a few months, we will get the same result [in the parliamentary elections], or even worse.
“Reforming Britain to field more candidates will do more damage.”
Losing the Teesside and West Midlands mayoral elections could lead to a change of leadership. It will be “huge fuel” for Tory rebels seeking a new government, Ruth Davidson, former leader of the Scottish Conservatives, said on the show. Electoral Dysfunction Podcast.
Mr. Street, who is seeking a third term, sought to distance himself from his conservative brand during the campaign and instead ran on a personal platform.
UAE Breaking News recently revealed that Mr Street had distributed campaign literature supporting former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, telling people to “forget the government”.
His campaign website also made no reference to Sunak and was green rather than the Conservative blue.
