Labour's David Jamieson wins West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner election

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Labour's David Jamieson has been re-elected as West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner.



Mr Jamieson polled 306,578 votes across the region compared to Conservative candidate - Stourbridge councillor Les Jones - who picked up 176,922.

In Dudley - Mr Jamieson won the first stage round of results with 25,750 votes, with Cllr Jones polling 23,363 votes and UKIP's Pete Durnell - 15,952, and independent candidate Andy Flynn - 4,177.

But the second round results for the borough put Cllr Jones in front with 5,261 votes to Mr Jamieson's 4,181.

However - when the final results for the entire West Midlands region were totted up the serving Labour commissioner was left with nearly double the votes of his Tory opponent.

I won't say who I voted for but it was neither the Labour nor the Tory candidate.

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Jamieson pledges to crackdown on travellers after re-election as police and crime commissioner



Thanking voters for returning him to office, Mr Jamieson told the Observer there was still much work to be done in the city.

“Every area in the West Midlands is suffering from its own problems and cyber or internet crime is widespread – but these are issues we as a force are committed to tackling,” he said.

“But travellers in Coventry are a particular issue which I want to focus on.

“I have no problem with travellers on the whole – they are good, decent people who move around the country doing jobs.

“But is the minority of people who come into the city, claiming they are travellers and cause disruption, harm and criminality.

“A large number of people have raised the issue with me, particularly shop owners, and we need to ensure the problem is effectively dealt with.

“Coventry is a vibrant city with diverse communities, and the police have to continue to play a vital role in ensuring harmonious relationships between the communities.”

Under the supplementary voting system used in PCC elections, Mr Jamieson won 49.88 per cent of the vote in the first round of voting – just shy of the 50 per cent required to win the election on voters’ first choice.

He then went head-to-head with the Conservatives’ Les Jones in the second round, which adds on voters’ ‘second choice’ candidates, but quickly beat him to the 50 per cent mark – winning 306,578 votes to Mr Jones’ 176,922 votes.

Pete Durnell, chairman of UKIP’s Sandwell branch, and independent candidate Andy Flynn from Birmingham were both defeated in the first round.

The Green Party and Liberal Democrats did not field candidates for what is the biggest Police and Crime Commissioner role in the country, in charge of the largest police force outside of London.

Mr Jamieson first assumed the role in a by-election in August 2014 following the death of previous PCC Bob Jones.

Voter turnout in Coventry was 27.7 per cent, with 2,979 spoilt ballot papers.

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Spoilt West Midlands PCC ballot papers sparks call for change



Calls have been made to change the electoral system after more than 46,000 ballot papers were spoilt in Police and Crime Commissioner elections across the West Midlands region.

One returning officer said he believed the current first and second preference system was too confusing.

Staffordshire PCC Matthew Ellis called for a "first past the post" system instead.

More than 28,000 papers were spoilt in the West Midlands vote alone.

This was just under five per cent of the entire vote.

In West Mercia more than 5,500 votes were rejected; more than 5,000 were spoilt in Gloucestershire; 4,000 in Staffordshire and over 3,000 in Warwickshire.

West Midlands Police area returning officer Mark Rogers said: "We saw very few papers that were deliberately spoilt, where people had gone out of their way to deface the ballot paper.

"More than half of the papers that were rejected was because there was no mark on the ballot paper at all.

"People do get confused because they've basically experienced first past the post with most other elections and this is different.

"I think it's just left people thinking 'I don't know what this piece of paper's for'."

Staffordshire PCC Matthew Ellis, who was re-elected for a second time, called for the system to change.

"My preference would be that we go for a traditional 'first past the post'; it's clear, it's tidy. A number of people vote for a candidate, that candidate gets in," he said.

"[The current system] might seem fairer but If we go through the rigmarole of having a massive proportion of people utterly confused then as far as I'm concerned it defeats the object."