Conservative Philip Allott has been elected as North Yorkshire’s Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, winning in the second round to replace outgoing Conservative Julie Mulligan.
In the first round, Allott won 46% of the vote, followed by Labour’s Alison Hume in second with 25.5%, independent former police officer Keith Tordoff with 14%, and James Barker for the Liberal Democrats with 12.4%.
As no candidate had a majority, Allott and Hume went into a second round of voting where the second preference votes of other candidates were redistributed.
In the second round Allott received 62.1% of the vote and Hume 37.9%.
Speaking to URY this week, Allott said he would deploy plain clothes police officers in York and elsewhere to protect students and young people on nights out, particularly women and girls.
When a plan for the deployment of plain clothes police to bars and nightclubs was suggested by the Government earlier this year, it was described by Bryony Benyon, Managing Director of the Good Night Out Campaign, as “pretty frightening”, because it “feels like an increase in police intrusion into social spaces.”
Allott also spoke about county lines drug dealing throughout his campaign, telling URY that he would take a “hard line” on dealers and “take them out for a long time.”
Turnout this year, at 25.47%, was 3% higher than the 2016 election for this role, despite this being the only election taking place in most of the region following the postponement of elections for North Yorkshire County Council because of an upcoming change in structure.
In 2012, the last time the PCC race was the only election in North Yorkshire, turnout was considerably lower at 13.25%.
Results from local elections in areas across Yorkshire and the rest of England, as well as for the devolved parliaments in Wales and Scotland, are expected to be announced over the rest of today and this weekend.