Dismal day for democracy as voters trickle to the polls to choose eight Labour and four Conservative holders of the controversial new posts. One shock: Prescott loses. But even on Humberside, with stacks of publicity, the turnout fails to reach 20 percent
There we are then. The Guardian Northerner's attempts to rouse interest in the Police and Crime Commissioner elections have been completely unavailing and the voice of tiojo, Janice Gwilliam and our other ballot-spoiling writers and readers is heard across the land.
A fiasco. How can anyone claim a democratic mandate on a turnout of 12.41 percent in Merseyside or 13.25 in Janice's North Yorkshire? Or anywhere else, for that matter? In the three northern regions, only Northumbria and Humberside managed to creep their turnout of voters up to over 16 percent.
And this is in part of the country which has been shaken recently by repeated police crises. O tempora! O mores! No more to be said, really, though there's plenty elsewhere on the website including more on John Prescott's failure to win on Humberside and the end of 'Monkey man' Stuart Drummond's elected Mayoralty in Hartlepool.
No independent winners in the north, although they took seven of the 41 police areas nationally. Ex-detective Cedric Christie came closest in West Yorkshire, losing to Labour on the second count.
John Prescott, very decent in defeat, said: "The people have spoken." But we didn't. It was the silence which was deafening.
So, we'll just group our northern results together here for your convenience and leave everyone to think on. Click on the winners names (in blue) to find out more about them.
CHESHIRE
(First Count)
John Dwyer (C) 40,122 (36.84%)
John Stockton (Lab) 30,974 (28.44%)
Sarah Flannery (Ind) 18,596 (17.08%)
Ainsley Arnold (LD) 10,653 (9.78%)
Louise Bours (Ukip) 8,557 (7.86%)
Eliminated: Ainsley Arnold, Louise Bours, Sarah Flannery
(Second Count)
Distribution of Arnold's, Bours's and Flannery's votes
John Dwyer (C) 48,591
John Stockton (Lab) 37,350
Elected: JOHN DWYER
Electorate 792,852; Turnout 108,902 (13.74%)
CLEVELAND
(First Count)
Barry Coppinger (Lab) 25,691 (41.58%)
Ken Lupton (C) 16,047 (25.97%)
Sultan Alam (Ind) 11,561 (18.71%)
Joe Michna (Green) 8,484 (13.73%)
Eliminated: Sultan Alam, Joe Michna
(Second Count)
Distribution of Alam's and Michna's votes
Barry Coppinger (Lab) 31,340
Ken Lupton (C) 20,171
Elected: BARRY COPPINGER
Electorate 419,397; Turnout 61,783 (14.73%)
CUMBRIA
(First Count)
Richard Rhodes (C) 18,080 (29.04%)
Patrick Leonard (Lab) 15,301 (24.58%)
Mary Robinson (Ind) 15,245 (24.49%)
Pru Jupe (LD) 13,623 (21.88%)
Eliminated: Pru Jupe, Mary Robinson
(Second Count)
Distribution of Jupe's and Robinson's votes
Richard Rhodes (C) 25,408
Patrick Leonard (Lab) 20,317
Elected: RICHARD RHODES
Electorate 398,207; Turnout 62,249 (15.63%)
DURHAM
(First Count)
Ron Hogg (Lab) 36,171 (51.57%)
Kingsley Smith (Ind) 18,813 (26.82%)
Mike Costello (Ukip) 8,257 (11.77%)
Nick Varley (C) 6,900 (9.84%)
Elected: RON HOGG
Electorate 486,624; Turnout 70,141 (14.41%)
GREATER MANCHESTER
(First Count)
Tony Lloyd (Lab) 139,437 (51.23%)
Michael Winstanley (C) 42,478 (15.61%)
Matt Gallagher (LD) 40,318 (14.81%)
Roy Warren (Ind) 26,664 (9.80%)
Steven Woolfe (Ukip) 23,256 (8.55%)
Elected: TONY LLOYD
Electorate 2,002,284; Turnout 272,153 (13.59%)
HUMBERSIDE
(First Count)
John Prescott (Lab) 33,282 (24.88%)
Matthew Grove (C) 29,440 (22.01%)
Paul Davison (Ind) 28,807 (21.54%)
Godfrey Bloom (Ukip) 21,484 (16.06%)
Simone Butterworth (LD) 11,655 (8.71%)
Walter Sweeney (Ind) 5,118 (3.83%)
Neil Eyre (Ind) 3,976 (2.97%)
Eliminated: Godfrey Bloom, Simone Butterworth, Paul Davison, Neil Eyre, Walter Sweeney
(Second Count)
Distribution of Bloom's, Butterworth's, Davison's, Eyre's and Sweeney's votes
John Prescott (Lab) 39,933
Matthew Grove (C) 42,164
Elected: MATTHEW GROVE
Electorate 698,556; Turnout 133,762 (19.15%)
LANCASHIRE
(First Count)
Clive Grunshaw (Lab) 66,017 (39.28%)
Tim Ashton (C) 58,428 (34.76%)
Rob Drobny (Ukip) 25,228 (15.01%)
Afzal Anwar (LD) 18,396 (10.95%)
Eliminated: Afzal Anwar, Rob Drobny
(Second Count)
Distribution of Anwar's and Drobny's votes
Clive Grunshaw (Lab) 79,790
Tim Ashton (C) 73,262
Elected: CLIVE GRUNSHAW
Electorate 1,116,620; Turnout 168,069 (15.05%)
MERSEYSIDE
(First Count)
Jane Kennedy (Lab) 70,884 (56.18%)
Geoff Gubb (C) 15,870 (12.58%)
Kiron Reid (Ind) 14,379 (11.40%)
Paula Keaveney (LD) 9,192 (7.29%)
Hilary Jones (Ukip) 8,704 (6.90%)
Paul Rimmer (Eng Dem) 7,142 (5.66%)
Elected: JANE KENNEDY
Electorate 1,016,579; Turnout 126,171 (12.41%)
NORTHUMBRIA
(First Count)
Vera Baird (Lab) 100,170 (56.02%)
Phil Butler (C) 45,845 (25.64%)
Alistair Baxter (Ukip) 18,876 (10.56%)
Peter Andras (LD) 13,916 (7.78%)
Elected: VERA BAIRD
Electorate 1,087,220; Turnout 178,807 (16.45%)
NORTH YORKSHIRE
(First Count)
Julia Mulligan (C) 47,885 (58.25%)
Ruth Potter (Lab) 34,328 (41.75%)
Elected: JULIA MULLIGAN
Electorate 620,497; Turnout 82,213 (13.25%)
SOUTH YORKSHIRE
(First Count)
Shaun Wright (Lab) 74,615 (51.35%)
David Allen (Eng Dem) 22,608 (15.56%)
Nigel Bonson (C) 21,075 (14.51%)
Jonathan Arnott (Ukip) 16,773 (11.54%)
Rob Teal (LD) 10,223 (7.04%)
Elected: SHAUN WRIGHT
Electorate 1,000,015; Turnout 145,294 (14.53%)
WEST YORKSHIRE
(First Count)
Mark Burns-Williamson (Lab) 102,817 (47.88%)
Cedric Christie (Ind) 49,299 (22.96%)
Geraldine Carter (C) 45,365 (21.13%)
Andrew Marchington (LD) 17,247 (8.03%)
Eliminated: Geraldine Carter, Andrew Marchington
(Second Count)
Distribution of Carter's and Marchington's votes
Mark Burns-Williamson (Lab) 114,736
Cedric Christie (Ind) 71,876
Elected: MARK BURNS-WILLIAMSON
Electorate 1,609,614; Turnout 214,728 (13.34%)
Police and crime commissioners
Police
John Prescott
Voter apathy
Local government
Martin Wainwright
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