Longmore becomes first PCC in West Mercia

Independent candidate Bill Longmore has today become the first Police and Crime Comissioner for West Mercia Police. He beat the Conservative candidate, Adrian Blackshaw after a 2nd round of voting in which the Labour candidate, Simon Murphy was eliminated after the first round in a rather different style of election, called the supplementary vote.

Neither Bill or the Conservative candidate won with over 50% of the vote so it went down to a head to head election in which Bill stormed away from Adrian with 21,000 of the Labour candidates 2nd preferences, compared to just 5,000 of the Conservatives.

The full results are below:

Taking the voters of Bromsgrove on their own, Adrian Blackshaw would have won the election by 5 votes but thankfully, the remainder of Worcestershire, Herefordshire and Shropshire saw sense beyond a rosette colour and picked the most experienced person for a very tough role.

Bill was endorsed by the Bromsgrove Liberal Democrats at our AGM on 7th November in which he gave very sound reasoning for his candidacy, not least for the fact that he was actually the only candidate that had served as a police officer for around 30 years in the Midlands.

Thomas Coe, Communications Officer of the Bromsgrove Lib Dems had the following to say on the election:

"As a local party and as a collective in West Mercia, the Liberal Democrats in the region decided not to field a candidate, a decision I personally completely agree with. The turnout overall was low, but I believe there was no excuse not to vote on Thursday.

Even if you did not agree with the re-structuring of the police that has gone ahead, it was going to go ahead with or without protest votes and low turnouts. The evidence that the role was not popular had presented itself long before today and despite the official turnout number affirming this, it won't change anything, the role of PCC is here to stay.

What better way to ensure that the police are free from politics than voting for an independent former police officer?"

Bill begins his tough task of controlling the West Mercia police on Thursday and Bromsgrove Liberal Democrats wish Bill all the best in his role as PCC!