Y-PERN’s Chief Policy Fellow, Dr Andy Mycock reflects on the mayoral and local election results in Yorkshire and the Humber and what it could mean for Y-PERN and YPIP’s ongoing mission.
The overall voting patterns across Yorkshire and Humber were largely like those across England. Labour’s share of the overall vote (about 34%) was similar to last year. The local elections gave us some indication of the likely outcomes in a general election, but the Blackpool South by-election was probably a more insightful indication of where the country stands in terms of national party politics. Below are some headline thoughts on our region:
Mayoral Elections
The mayoral election in York and North Yorkshire (YNY) provided the headline result in the region, with David Skaith (Labour) beating Keane Duncan (Conservative) by almost 15,000 votes. Skaith’s campaign centred on local economic growth while not making too many spending commitments.
One significant point of note was the turnout of 191,279 (just under 30%) – much higher than the YNY Mayoral Combined Authority (MCA) transition team expected and a positive sign of initial recognition and buy-in from voters (and in line with most initial mayoral elections).
Skaith will seek to hit the ground running and my sense is he will welcome the proactive approaches to pre-election engagement by our Y-PERN universities in supporting the YNY MCA transition team. It is important to maintain this work both through the YNY MCA transition team links and also via his emerging mayoral advisory team..
The other two mayoral contests went as expected – with Tracy Brabin and Oliver Coppard both winning comfortably. Comparisons with previous elections in terms of party support are somewhat difficult due the change in voting system to ‘first past the post’. Brabin got just over 50% of the vote share, as did Coppard (50.9%). Both mayors and officers in the CAs in South and West Yorkshire will be somewhat concerned about the poor turnouts in both elections (WY – 32%, SY – 27%). Both should be considered maturing CAs and would hope for better vote participation. While South Yorkshire turnout increased marginally from 2022, West Yorkshire’s turnout dropped by nearly 5%, a surprise considering local elections were held across the region on the same day.
Key Takeaways
The Labour mayoral candidates all showed restraint in the policy remit of their manifestoes, largely resisting the temptation to speak to policy areas beyond their current delegated powers. This is good for Y-PERN and YPIP as the focus of all the mayoral manifestoes spoke strongly to our predominant areas of interest (climate/sustainability, local economic growth and skills, transport, arts and culture). Our shared focus on community engagement should be emphasised in relation to poor voter recognition of the CAs and turnout in elections, as it offers the opportunity to grow their political and policy ‘brand’.
Local Elections
Labour had a good return in many areas but this was not the tsunami of votes we saw in 1997. This in parts reflects that Labour has been in power in many local authorities across the Yorkshire and Humber region and some of the issues concerning finances and governmental competency are viewed by the electorate to reside at local as well as national level. Overall, Labour-led councils strengthened their hold on power, but with some notable exceptions.
All five local authorities in West Yorkshire remained Labour-led, but the party lost overall control in Kirklees; they remain the largest party there and will work with the Greens and Liberal Democrats as in previous periods of No Overall Control (NOC). They also lost some councillors in Bradford. However, this should not impact too strongly on any forthcoming general election as voting switches have taken place in wards where Labour has very strong existing support.
In South Yorkshire, Sheffield City Council remains in NOC, with Labour still leading the council as the largest party. Barnsley and Rotherham also saw Labour make modest gains. Notable across West and South Yorkshire was some growth in the Green and Lib Dem vote and councillors, and the success of Reform UK where they stood to take votes off all the main parties (they didn’t stand in many seats though).
In Hull, the Lib Dems fought off a strong Labour challenge to maintain control of the Council (Labour made a gain of one councillor). There were no elections in East Riding but the other notable result was Labour taking the Humberside Police and Crime Commissioner post from the Conservatives (this has not been connected to the forthcoming mayoral role in Hull and East Riding MCA). The turnout was very low at 17%. There were no local elections in York and North Yorkshire.
Key Takeaways
The overarching messages is that the political landscape is both increasingly monochrome in one sense, as Labour is now in control of most local authorities across the region and the three mayoral roles. This will see some stronger synchronisation of local and sub-regional policymaking in each of the three areas with a mayor. This noted, the political landscape is complex and often influenced by a range of local, regional, and national issues. There is a need to ensure that Y-PERN and YPIP support the local and combined authorities whilst navigating a complex political landscape, listening and learning from our local and combined authority colleagues.
Some councils (Sheffield, Kirklees, Bradford) could benefit from our help to deliver policy outcomes in a political landscape which is likely to be difficult due to a lack of overarching political direction. This will be a particular issue in Kirklees – and a recent invitation to support local council officers in shaping three areas of interest is an important opportunity.
As a team, we would like to explore how we can build capacity to meet each local authority and explain the Y-PERN and YPIP shared mission, the remit of our work, and how we can help them. Indeed, this will require capacity drawn from both Y-PERN and our partner institutions.
With regards to YNY MCA, one thing which will be needed to be addressed is the issue of cross-combined authority collaboration. Y-PERN and YPIP can help here, particularly as the YNY MCA will likely need to work closely both with WYCA and also the Teesside MCA (which saw Conservative Ben Houchen elected). The emergence of the Policy Campus in Sheffield – which is part of a growing civil service footprint beyond Whitehall – is another significant opportunity for Y-PERN and YPIP.
The potential for multi-level and cross-regional collaboration facilitated and supported by Y-PERN and YPIP is considerable, and we should also be aware of the widening remit of CAs – particularly in the areas of local economic strategy and growth – in the context of deepening devolution. Linking the work of Y-PERN and YPIP to greater political and institutional intelligence of our policy partners is an important aspect of our work and something we need to develop capacity through our partner universities. This is best developed through contact and building trust, particularly with our local and combined authority officer links.
