Boost for Labour as Dan Jarvis storms Sheffield mayoral race
2 min read
Labour MP Dan Jarvis today stormed to victory in the contest to become the first mayor of the Sheffield City Region.
The ex-paratrooper beat his closest rival by almost 100,000 votes once second preferences were counted in the nail-biting run-off.
As he claimed victory, the Barnsley Central MP declared: "Today is not the end of Yorkshire’s devolution story - it is only the beginning."
Mr Jarvis had to fight with the Labour party to keep his job as an MP so he can maintain pressure on the Government to increase the devolution of power in Yorkshire.
Labour’s National Executive Committee had said in March that he could not hold two full-time elected roles - but after intense private talks the governing body backed down.
Mr Jarvis won the ballot with some 144,154 compared to 50,619 for his nearest rival Ian Walker. In his victory speech he said he knew that the “exceptional nature of my candidacy would raise some eyebrows”.
He added: “But I believed then as I know now that the exceptional circumstances of this mayoralty and the importance of devolution for the future of the UK meant that I couldn’t stand on the sidelines and that I had to step forward.”
Mr Jarvis will serve a four-year term before the seat comes up for election again in 2022.
But he will have few powers beyond a say about how buses may operate in the future - at least until a new devolution deal is struck for the region.
His victory is a shot of good news in an otherwise underwhelming night for the Labour party.
It seized Plymouth council from the Conservatives but failed to take over a host of London and other urban authorities it was targeting.
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