Labour has dramatically won the West Midlands mayoral contest in another stunning blow for Rishi Sunak.
Richard Parker narrowly defeated Tory incumbent Andy Street following a nail-biting count which went right down to the wire.
In the end, he came from behind to win by just 1,508 votes following the final count in the borough of Sandwell.
Street was going for a third term in office and did his best to distance himself from both the national Conservative Party and the prime minister throughout the campaign.
But he was unable to defy the national swing against the Conservatives, which has seen the party lose nearly 500 councillors and a raft of Tory-run councils.
On Friday night, senior Labour sources feared Keir Starmer’s stance on the Middle East had cost them the West Midlands mayoralty as disenchanted supporters backed the pro-Gaza independent candidate Akhmed Yakoob.
But Parker’s victory, in an area containing many vital parliamentary constituencies, will increase Labour confidence that their leader is heading for No.10.
Starmer said: “This phenomenal result was beyond our expectations. People across the country have had enough of Conservative chaos and decline and voted for change with Labour.”
Street’s defeat means Lord Houchen of High Leven’s re-election as Tees Valley mayor is the only bright spot for the Conservatives in a damaging set of local elections.
The most recent Labour mayoral victories were announced earlier today, with Tracy Brabin (West Yorkshire), Oliver Coppard (South Yorkshire), Steve Rotheram (Liverpool) and Andy Burnham (Manchester) all winning comfortably.
The West Midlands result will pile more pressure on Sunak, who appears to be leading the Tories to an inevitable general election defeat.
Posting in a Tory MPs’ WhatsApp group, Sunak critic Simon Clarke said: “These results are awful, and should be a massive wake up call. If we fight the same campaign in a few months, we will get the same outcome.
“I love our party and want it to succeed. We do ourselves and the people who need us a massive disservice if we cling on to a handful of individual successes and nonsense like the hung Parliament forecast rather than looking at the true situation.”