Labor has claimed a shock victory in the West Midlands mayoral election by defeating Tory Andy Street

Labor has claimed an unexpected victory in the West Midlands mayoral election by defeating Tory Andy Street.

In Birmingham, where the results were to be formally announced, Richard Parker was seen smiling with party members and supporters.

This means Mr Street will not be able to seek a third term, which is a major blow to him Rishi Sunak after a catastrophic event local elections,

But senior Labor sources have suggested victory is at least 1,000 votes away BBC They say.

Mr Parker posed for photos smiling with supporters near the podium where the winner would be announced, but when asked to pose in front of the media he refused to smile, saying he was ‘nervously awaiting’ the result. ‘ Was doing.

Liam Byrne, a former West Midlands mayoral candidate and MP for Hodge Hill, Birmingham, posted a photo of himself and Mr Parker on social media, clearly smiling with their arms raised in celebration.

And Labour’s deputy national campaign co-ordinator and Lewisham MP Ellie Reeves posted on X: ‘Congratulations @RichParkerLab. An incredible result and important win.

‘People across the country have voted for change and the message is clear… it is time for a general election and a Labor government to take back our country’s future.’

With both sides warning that the race was ‘too close to call’, the results – initially due around 3pm – are eventually expected to come this evening.

Partial recount was already underway birmingham and Wolverhampton, but Coventry had a full recount as the parties disputed every single vote.

Mr Sunak was hoping Mr Street would join Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen in seeking a third term, demonstrating the party can still win major contests.

Lord Houchen’s success appears to have helped Mr Sunak fend off a fresh coup attempt by rebels, most of whom have now assumed the leader will not change before the general election.

But amid fears that another defeat could stoke anger, the broader picture remains grim for the Conservatives. It is likely to lose 500 councilors in one of the worst performances in 40 years.

For the first time since 1996, the Lib Dems have won more councilors than the Conservatives in a round of local elections.

Birmingham Labor MP Jess Phillips said that before the results were announced, her party’s delay in calling for a Gaza ceasefire had cost her votes in the West Midlands.

It comes after independent candidate Akhmed Yacoub won third place in the Birmingham result following campaigning on Palestine.

A former frontbencher, Phillips stepped down last November to vote in favor of an SNP-led demand for an ‘immediate ceasefire’ in the Middle East.

She told the BBC: ‘I would be lying if I said this was not an issue that would damage the Labor Party in this election.’

‘This is a political issue that people here care about.’

The Blackpool South by-election caused a particular panic as Labor stormed the seat with a 26 point swing – and the Tories moved into second place, ahead of only Reform.

And Sadiq Khan won comfortably against Conservative candidate Susan Hall – securing a historic third term as London mayor.

He celebrated his ‘increased margin of victory’ after polling 1,088,225 votes in the last election, a majority of almost 276,000 over Ms Hall, who polled 812,397 votes.

And he criticized the ‘non-stop negativity’ of the campaign against him after the divisive race. He used his victory speech to apologize for the ‘threats’ his family received and the ‘opposition from our home’.

But it was not all easy for Sir Keir, with experts warning that a decline in support in areas with large Muslim populations showed he was ‘in trouble’.

The Labor Party recorded a more-than-anticipated victory today, with Steve Rotheram re-elected as Mayor of the Liverpool City Region after securing a massive 68 per cent of the vote.

Andy Burnham won Greater Manchester by 63 per cent, compared to just 10 per cent for his Tory rival.

Oliver Coppard was returned as Mayor of South Yorkshire with 138,611 votes, almost three times the 44,945 received by his Conservative rival Nick Allen.

Earlier, Mr Sunak had insisted he could still turn the situation around, saying people were ‘frustrated and wondering why they should vote.’

‘fact Labor They are not winning in places where they themselves admit they need a majority, this shows keir starmer“Lack of planning and foresight is hurting them,” he said.

‘We traditionalist We have everything to fight for – and we will fight because we are fighting for our values ​​and the future of our country.’

Mr Sunak pointed to his party’s recent commitment to increase defense spending and cut immigration as clear dividing lines with Labour.

But polling guru Professor John Curtice said the results showed Mr Sunak has ‘little to show’ for his efforts to restore the Tories’ fortunes after Liz Truss’s failed premiership.

The pollster told the BBC: ‘There is nothing in these results to suggest, contrary to opinion polls, that the Conservatives are actually starting to close the gap on Labour, and so far at least, Rishi Sunak’s project has Having tried to recover from the disaster of the Liz Truss fiscal event – ​​from the Conservatives’ point of view – that project still has little to show.

‘This is a big achievement in a way.

‘Now the Conservatives, as all parties do poorly in the polls, they always want you to focus on the exception rather than the rule, and Tees Valley and perhaps the West Midlands are the exception, not the rule.’

On Labour’s loss over its stance on Gaza, Sir John said: ‘At the moment I think if we had had a general election what we would have found is that Labor might lose some of these seats, but because the Labor Party is already so is strong, yet he will probably be successful in winning the parliamentary elections.

‘But yes, it is a big message to Labor from these local elections that you are really in trouble with some of your former Muslim supporters.’

Mr Sunak suffered a shock in his own backyard as Labor took the mayorship of York and North Yorkshire.

The area, which covers the Prime Minister’s Richmond constituency, is one where the Labor Party has historically struggled to compete in parliamentary elections.

Labor also won the inaugural mayoral contest in the East Midlands and North East, and gained nine police and crime commissioner posts from the Tories, including in Cumbria, Avon and Somerset and Norfolk.

But in some councils, the opposition party lost seats to independents and Britain’s George Galloway’s Workers’ Party, apparently because of the party’s stance on Gaza.

Overall, Labor gained control of eight councils as it made a net gain of 204 seats, while the Liberal Democrats gained 92 seats and the Greens gained 58 seats.

The Liberal Democrats’ most significant victory was wresting control of Dorset Council from the Conservatives, where they now hold 42 of the 82 seats, after gaining 15 seats.

Despite gaining 10 seats, the Greens fell just short of taking overall control of Bristol, one of their top targets.

Despite results that left the Conservatives on track to lose half of the seats they contested, the rebels admitted they had persuaded enough MPs to join them to force a vote of no confidence in Mr Sunak’s leadership. did not do.

One rebel simply told the Mail: ‘We’re going to the pub.’

Dame Andrea Jenkins, the first Tory MP to publicly move against the PM, said it was ‘unlikely’ others would follow in sufficient numbers to trigger a leadership contest.

He said, ‘My stand remains the same.’ ‘But we are where we are and it looks impossible that MPs will table the letter, so we need to unite.’

Former Cabinet minister Nadine Dorries – another high-profile critic of the PM – said it would be ‘madness’ to try to replace Mr Sunak before the general election, adding that it would ‘make no difference’ to the outcome.

A rebel source said it was clear Mr Sunak would ‘delay the election’, adding: ‘We are not suicide pilots. ‘Finally, there are too many MPs with their heads in the sand and this can’t work.’