Andy Street ousted as Mayor of the West Midlands in knife-edge contest as Labour pulls off surprise victory

Labour has pulled off a surprise victory as Andy Street was ousted as Mayor of the West Midlands. In a knife-edge contest Richard Parker secured a sensational victory after winning by a tight margin.

Party sources have told the Mirror they are confident they have won. The result came after a nail-biting few hours that saw a recount of all ballots cast in Coventry because it was so close.

Mr Street, who is the former boss of John Lewis boss, has held the role since 2017. Despite being the Conservative candidate, he has attempted to distance himself from Rishi Sunak, including criticising his decision to cancel the northern leg of HS2 beyond Birmingham.

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The result comes after the Tories have faced a difficult couple of days, losing almost 500 council seats across England. Earlier today, Sadiq Khan won an historic third term in London, while Labour also cleaned up in Greater Manchester, the Liverpool City Region, West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire.

On Friday, Labour won inaugural mayoral contests in York and North Yorkshire, the East Midlands and the North East, and gained nine police and crime commissioner posts from the Tories, including in Cumbria, Avon and Somerset, and Norfolk.

It also took a Tory scalp by winning the Blackpool South by-election. But the Conservative Ben Houchen managed to survive as Tees Valley Mayor despite a swing to Labour.

In a newspaper article on Saturday, Rishi Sunak claimed the Conservatives have "everything to fight for" ahead of the general election.