LABOUR won the West of England mayoral election after a strong challenge from Reform UK.
At the region-wide election in May, Labour’s Helen Godwin successfully defended the post won from the Conservatives by Dan Norris in 2021.
She polled 51,197 votes, a majority of 5,945 over Reform’s Arron Banks, who received 45,252.
Green candidate Mary Page was third, Conservative Steve Smith was fourth and Liberal Democrat Oli Henman was fifth, with independent Ian Scott losing his deposit in last place, after failing to secure 5% of the overall votes cast.
Votes in the three council areas which make up the West of England Combined Authority were counted separately and in South Gloucestershire, Reform topped the poll ahead of the Tories, with Labour third.
Reacting to his party’s overall performance, Mr Banks said: “That was a pretty epic response to be honest. Bristol and Bath should not be natural Reform territory and we aced it.
“The Greens will be disappointed they didn’t win but it was a good result for us.
“This was our least likely place to win and we came up 6,000 votes short. There is a tidal wave going on in the UK at the moment.
“We have seen Reform victory after Reform victory. It looks like Bristol liked Banksy after all. And we beat the Greens.”
The South Gloucestershire result saw the Liberal Democrats, who run the council in coalition with Labour, squeezed into fourth place with only 14.1% of the mayoral vote in the district, compared to 33.2% in the 2023 council elections.
The race had proved hard for pollsters to predict, with a YouGov poll a week before the election predicting a Green win, while MoreInCommon predicted a Labour win with the Tories second.
After the result was announced, Ms Godwin told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “It was always going to be close – we knew that.
“It genuinely is the honour of my life to be your new West of England Mayor.
“Today marks the beginning of a new chapter for the West of England, where we’ll bring people together and work more transparently to deliver the ambitious change our communities need.
“This region isn’t just my political home—it’s where I was born, where my children are growing up, and where my family’s roots run deep across the West Country.”
The turnout of 30% was more than 6% down on the 2021 election, which had been held at the same time as the Bristol City Council elections.
OVERALL RESULTS
Helen Godwin (Labour): 51,197
Arron Banks (Reform UK): 45,252
Mary Page (Green): 41,094
Steve Smith (Conservative): 34,092
Oli Henman (Liberal Democrat): 28,711
Ian Scott (Independent): 4,682
Total votes cast: 205,557
Turnout: 30%
SOUTH GLOS RESULTS
Arron Banks (Reform UK) 19,446
Steve Smith (Conservative) 14,235
Helen Godwin (Labour) 12,442
Oli Henman (Lib Dem) 9,137
Mary Page (Green) 7,392
Ian Scott (Independent) 2,051
Total votes cast: 64,703.
Turnout: 30.1%