West Mercia PCC election: Tory winner issues warning to party after collapse in support
Conservative John Campion survived a scare to secure re-election as West Mercia's Police and Crime Commissioner – and warned his party must listen to the public ahead of a General Election.
Mr Campion was elected to the post for a third time with 73,395 votes, beating Labour's Richard Overton, who was second with 63,082 votes.
Despite the victory the result represented a collapse in support for Mr Campion who secured 179,411 votes in 2021, winning by 101,747 votes.
But the margin the victory will represent a glimmer of success for the Conservatives, who have endured a bruising night across the country.
Mr Campion said he believed his victory was down to his positive message on his own plans to tackle crime, but said nationally the party needed to reassess why its policies were not resonating with the public.
He said: "Here I think the positive message I have talked about, I have not talked about other politicians, I talked about my positive vision for what I want to do to tackle crime and I think that resonated with communities.
"In terms of lessons for the national government, clearly there has been a swing against the Conservatives, here and elsewhere and my party needs to understand what that means because I do not think enough policies are resonating with the public."
He added that the government would have to understand and respond to those concerns, adding they could not brush over the results.
Turning to his priorities for the coming term Mr Campion said: "Cutting crime – whether it be ensuring we are tackling crime, the spike we are seeing in shop thefts, making sure the integration of the town centre teams we have already launched becomes successful, and getting things like shop thefts under control – and in the wider piece of bringing offenders to justice.
"Supporting victims – being a victim of crime should ensure you get the right support to cope and recover and support through any investigation with the right information."
He added: "And putting police back at the heart of communities, so more officers are based in those communities, they are visible and accessible, working with those in communities to tackle crime and prevent it happening."
Mr Campion said the continuing message he took from the election was people's desire for more visible policing.
He said: "I have heard it for a long period of time, it is about how visible our police officers are in our communities. It is not the traditional view of police officers on every corner, but how policing is integrated into our communities and making sure that visible reassurance is felt in all our communities.
"I will continue to work with the chief constable to continue to make sure that improves."
Meanwhile, Mr Overton said his party would take comfort from running the incumbent so close.
He said: "I feel really proud and humbled that people have put their votes into the Labour Party today.
"We reduced the majority because people are fed up with the Tories, they feel it is time for a change – we can see that."
Mr Overton said the "appetite for change" could be seen in several of the areas across the vote.
He added: "I think this is positive news for the Labour Party today because areas we have to win back they are voting Labour, showing they want the change."
The overall vote saw Mr Campion secure 73,395 votes, Richard Overton secure 63,082, Sarah Murray of the Liberal Democrats secure 33,782, Julian Dean of the Green Party secure 22,021, and Henry Curteis of the English Democrats gaining 21,646.
Turnout was 21.72 per cent,
