Labour's Richard Parker speaks after shock victory in West Midlands

Don’t you give a minute, Mr. Cody. Boss, comes stage thank you declaration of result of poll election of a combined authority mayor for West Midlands on Thursday the 2nd of May 2024. I, Julie Newman, being the combined Authority Returning Officer at the above election, do hereby give notice that the number of votes recorded for each candidate at the said election is as follows. Harper, Nunes, Siobhan, Bridget Green Party 31O36. Parker, Richard. Labour and Cooperative Party 22559 O St. Andrew The Conservative Party Candidate 224-O82 Birx and Dick Singh Liberal Democrats 12176 Williams Elaine Ruth Reform UK 34471 Yakoob Ahmed Independent 69621 The number of ballots rejected was as follows. For want of official mark 17 voting for more candidates. The voter was entitled to 1294 writing or mark by which voter could be identified 46 Being unmarked or wholly void for uncertainty. 3400 Total rejected 4757 vacant seats. One electorate 201-8546 Ballot papers issued 601828 Turn out was 29.8% and I do hereby declare that Richard Parker is duly elected. Thank you. First and foremost, thank you. I want to thank all of the staff at each polling station and at every count. Thank you for your hard work and thank you also to Andy. You’ve LED this region through a number of great challenges and you deserve great credit for that. You deserve credit through building up the combined authority into the powerhouse that it is today through the economic shocks and leading this region when it came out of COVID. You’ve been out there representing our region and I absolutely believe that whilst our politics are different, Andy, we both have the best interests at the West of the West Midlands at heart. I’d also like to thank my wife Alison and my family for supporting me and being there as I’ve taken on this challenge and for being there when I haven’t been there. I’d also like to to thank my fantastic agent Charlotte Walker for her Tala’s work. And thank you to all those that have helped and supported me throughout this campaign, especially Isley, Colder Cop, who’s been with me every day over the last 12 months through every visit and every hustings. And I look forward to working with Lucy in office. This is the most important thing I will ever do. This week people here voted for the person and the party. They recognised that a Labour mayor can make a positive difference in this region. Thank you. You have put your trust in me and I will pay that trust. I will deliver for you and your family. I promise you that I will deliver jobs. We will fix our public transport system, we will build the homes you need, and we will give this region the fresh start it richly deserves. And let me be really clear. I will work with the council leaders across the combined authority to make this region a roaring success again. I will support them, I will defend them and I will stand up for all of our councils in the face of unprecedented Tory cuts. I will also stand up for those people that didn’t vote for me. This means so much to our region, but it also means so much to our country. It shows that people are calling for Labour and calling for change. People are looking once again at our party and asking us to govern up and down the country. People are looking for a fresh start. I hope the Prime Minister is watching today as well, because in case you haven’t heard, Brishi Sunak, our people are calling for a general election. I will get this region’s future back and work and the Labour Mayor, working with the Labour government, will help get get the will get. Sorry, and I believe a Labour mayor working with the Labour government will help get Britain’s future back. Thank you.