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Britain’s best kept polling secret:
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With increased numbers of Conservative police and crime commissioners newly elected across the country, is the stage now set for them to take on governance of fire and rescue services? Political Editor Catherine Levin provides a round-up of this year’s PCC elections
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Did you know there were PCC elections?
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uper Thursday saw a swathe of elections across the UK on May 6, from the Scottish Parliament, to the Welsh Assembly, elected mayors and many local councils too. Most of these had been put off from 2020, as local democracy became another victim of the pandemic. There was much less attention paid to the police and crime commissioner elections held on the same day. Waiting another year, giving PCCs a five-year term instead of the normal four-year tenure, 39 PCC positions were up for grabs across England and Wales. There are 43 PCCs but three of them are also elected mayors: London, Manchester and West Yorkshire. There is also the anomaly of the City of London, but that is another story. Remember of course that of the 39 PCCs, four of them already have responsibility for fire, making them police, fire and crime commissioners. The PFCCs for Essex and Northamptonshire both stood for re-election while the PFCCs for North Yorkshire and Staffordshire did not. Unlike Westminster elections, PCCs are elected using the supplementary vote system. This means that people can make a first and a second choice. If no candidate gets more than 50 per cent of the first-choice votes, all except the top two candidates are eliminated. At that stage, the second votes of those residents whose first choice has been eliminated are counted. The government is considering legislating to change this next time to first past the post.
PFCC Performance So, how did the PFCCs do? In Essex, Conservative candidate Roger Hirst was after a third term in office. There are no term limits for PCCs, so he could be around for a long time. He was re-elected with a comfortable 236,346 votes, way ahead of his Labour rival, who got 99,712 votes. Speaking after his re-election, Roger said: “This is a sobering level of endorsement from the people of Essex. I am grateful that they are clearly appreciating what we have been doing over the past five years. We are improving the culture of the fire and rescue service with a focus on prevention and protection. It is really exciting that this programme has been endorsed by the public of Essex.” Conservative Stephen Mold was elected Northamptonshire PCC in 2016 and became PFCC in January 2019. He won the 2021 election with 102,752 votes, more than double his Labour rival on a turnout of 34.8 per cent. After the announcement of his re-election, Stephen Mold emphasised the collaboration between police and fire. He said: “Our two, vital emergency services are working more closely than ever before and already share buildings and support: I will expect them to embrace closer working on every level, to better protect people and promote safety in Northamptonshire.”
“Our two, vital emergency services are working more closely than ever before and already share buildings and support: I will expect them to embrace closer working on every level, to better protect people and promote safety in Northamptonshire” Northamptonshire PCC Stephen Mold
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June 2021
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www.fire–magazine.com