Labour’s David Jamieson wins West Midland bye-election amid low turnout

David Jamieson

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

Canada: Free $30 Oye! Times readers Get FREE $30 to spend on Amazon, Walmart…
USA: Free $30 Oye! Times readers Get FREE $30 to spend on Amazon, Walmart…

David JamiesonLabour’s David Jamieson has won the West Midlands bye-election and elected as new police and crime commissioner (PCC), after election turn-out just observed as low as 10.41%.

The current turnout percentage is less than the 11.96% of people who turned out two years ago to first elect the region’s commissioner.

It has also become the lowest turnout figure since 2012 PCC elections, which gave turnout figure as 11.6% in Staffordshire.

The cost to the taxpayer of staging the poll, won by Mr Jamieson with 50.83% of the casted votes, has been estimated to be at least £3.7m, which works out at just under £20 for every vote cast.

The poor turnout sparked calls for the process to be reformed, with Labour have branded the by-election “a shambles”.

The shadow minister for policing, Jack Dromey has said the by-election had been “characterised by costly chaos and a record low turnout” and helped neither candidates not the electorate.

Mr Dromey has told to await the outcome of the review, due in the autumn, rather than “make a snap decision” as to whether the roles should be ditched.

The Electoral Reform Society (ERS) has also said the law needed some modification, and called it “a very depressing turnout”.

An ERS research officer Chris Terry has said: “I think it could have been better had more thought been put into the process of how the by-election was run.”

The West Midlands police force area comprises of Birmingham, Solihull, the Black Country and Coventry, with the successful candidate receiving a £100,000-a-year salary – a figure set by the Home Secretary.

Article viewed at Oye! Times at www.oyetimes.com.

Share with friends
You can publish this article on your website as long as you provide a link back to this page.

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*