LABOUR has won the West of England mayoral election, seeing off a challenge from Reform UK.
The party retained the post it won in 2021, with new candidate Helen Godwin (pictured third from left, above) getting 51,197 votes, a majority of 5,945 over Reform’s Arron Banks, who received 45,252 votes.
Green Mary Page was third, Conservative Steve Smith was fourth and Lib Dem Oli Henman fifth, with independent Ian Scott losing his deposit in last place.
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.”
Reform candidate hails ‘pretty epic’ result
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 Greens hoped to ride a wave of recent electoral success in Bristol, where the party won the council elections last year and co-leader Carla Denyer won the Bristol Central seat at the general election.
They finished 10,000 votes behind Labour in Thursday’s election, polling 2,500 votes behind Labour in Bristol itself.
Candidate Mary Page said: “In Bristol we came second. I am absolutely stoked by that.
“Our campaign was run on a shoestring. It was pulled together last minute because I had to be that replacement candidate and needs must, and I stepped up.
“In 2027, South Gloucestershire and Bath have both got elections and in 2028 Bristol has. So Labour and Reform, we are not going anywhere.”
Result:
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
Electorate: 682,951
Turnout: 30%
The turnout was more than 6% down on the 2021 election’s turnout of 36.61% — but that was held at the same time as the Bristol City Council elections.
The Metro Mayor heads the West of England Combined Authority, which is responsible for improving transport across the region and attracting and delivering major investment.
The role is set to become more powerful under the Labour government’s English Devolution plans.
By John Wimperis, Local Democracy Reporting Service