Local elections 2023: Labour’s Chris Cooke ousts Andy Preston as Middlesbrough mayor

5 May 2023, 07:05 BST

Updated 14 minutes ago

Image source, Middlesbrough Council

Image caption,

Chris Cooke beat incumbent Andy Preston by just 760 votes to become Middlesbrough’s mayor

Labour’s Chris Cooke pulled off a shock political win by defeating Andy Preston to become Middlesbrough’s mayor.

In a tight race, Mr Cooke won by just 760 votes, with 10,956 votes to Independent Mr Preston’s 10,196.

The victor thanked the other candidates and described the process as a “whirlwind”, adding he was looking forward to “getting on with the job”.

Independent Jon Rathmell received 3,102 votes and Conservative John Cooper finished last with 2,997.

Turnout in the race was 27.75% with 27,479 votes cast out of a total electorate of 99,034.

It was the first time the mayor was elected on a first-past-the-post basis.

Mr Cooke, who grew up in the care system, vowed he would ensure the council becomes “a service-led organisation”, and that children’s social care would get his full focus.

“It’s a very humbling process if I’m honest, these sort of things don’t always happen to people who come from my sort of background but it’s amazing that it has,” he told the BBC.

“If we don’t look after the most vulnerable in our society we are never going to make gains across the town.”

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The newly elected mayor added he wanted to make sure the council becomes “more connected” to its communities.

He also expressed concern over the low turnout, adding that more effort was needed to engage people with democracy.

“It’s incredibly important, these people decide who is in charge of their town and they should have a good say about that.”

Image source, Getty Images

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Andy Preston, who himself beat Labour in 2019, says he is looking forward to getting his life back

Mr Preston, who had been mayor since 2019, was the pre-election favourite but his hopes of serving for another four years were dashed.

The ousted mayor said he would have loved to have seen through his plans but he had given his all and was looking forward to getting his life back.

“It’s been an amazing four years, incredibly difficult, incredibly tough,” he said after his defeat.

“I knew I was the favourite, I knew it was going to be tight but I thought I might sneak it so it’s a bit of a surprise.

“I have got mixed feelings, there’s a lot of great work that I really wanted to continue but I have a family. I have a million interests that I haven’t been able to focus on.”

He told the BBC he did not think he would stand again.

Counting is under way to elect ward councillors across Middlesbrough, as well as for Darlington, Redcar and Cleveland and Stockton-on-Tees borough councils.

Overnight, Labour also celebrated becoming the biggest party on the council in Hartlepool but remain one seat short of an overall majority, which was all down to just two votes.

They missed out in Hart ward to the Conservatives by 493 to 491, which leaves them with 18 out of 36 councillors. The council remains under no control.

Labour group leader Brenda Harrison, who will become council leader, said it was disappointing to lose a seat so narrowly “but that’s what I suppose they call politics”.

Image caption,

Labour’s Brenda Harrison says the party will stick to its five election pledges

She told BBC Tees: “I think, being the largest group, we will manage to actually get the control that we need.

“It’s good for the town to get back to some kind of governance that will look to do something for the people of Hartlepool and to try and improve their lives.”