Keir Starmer says East Midlands Mayor win is 'significant' moment in Labour history

Labour leader Keir Starmer has described the result of the East Midlands Mayor election as a "very significant moment" in the history of his party. Sir Keir visited the Forest Town Arena in Mansfield on Saturday (May 4), less than 24 hours after Claire Ward was confirmed as the winner of the mayoral race.

Around 180 people were there to greet the Labour leader, including scores of his candidates standing in East Midlands constituencies at the next general election. Labour sources said the availability of venues large enough was one of the reasons why Sir Keir ended up in Mansfield, but the party were fully aware that they were parking their tanks on the lawn of Mansfield MP Ben Bradley, who finished second in the mayoral race.

Addressing the crowd on Saturday, Labour's leader stood alongside Claire Ward and said: "You fought for this with a very, very positive campaign. I came here myself to campaign with you and was struck by the positivity of the case you were making.

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"You were rewarded with the trust and confidence of the voters in the East Midlands – a really, really important area for us. The underlying constituencies, the voters across the whole of the East Midlands came out and voted Labour and that is a very significant moment in our history.

"When the history books are written about this period of our political history in the United Kingdom, this will be part of that story – the day you were able to persuade people that we are a changed Labour Party." Ms Ward's first official day in office will be on Tuesday (May 4), with the East Midlands Combined County Authority she leads having its main office in Chesterfield.