FORMER Greens MSP Andy Wightman thanked backers yesterday after he failed to secure re-election as an independent. The former representative for the Lothian region entered Holyrood in 2016 and quit the party in a row related to their diverging positions on equalities reforms. He subsequently announced he’d go it alone and run in the Highlands and Islands region. His was a platform of land reform, affordable housing and environmental action. Wightman secured 3367 votes but this was not enough to win a seat. However, the Greens did take a list seat with 17,729 votes, meaning Ariane Burgess is now heading to Holyrood.
Bristol Mayor Marvin Rees moment of great joy as he s re-elected
Mr Rees will have three more years at the helm of Bristol City Council
02:03, 9 MAY 2021
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Marvin Rees has won the race to become Bristol’s next mayor.
The Labour candidate beat his nearest rival, the Green Party’s Sandy-Hore Ruthven, by 13,613 votes.
It means Mr Rees will have three more years at the helm of Bristol City Council, after which he says he will not seek re-election.
The West Midlands followed the pattern seen across the country. Liam Byrne MP took 267,626 votes and Andy Street has 314,669, including second preferences from the seven areas of the West Midlands. Results were announced at Birmingham’s Utilita Arena (formerly the NIA) yesterday Mr Street won at the second stage – after no candidates took more than 50 per cent of the votes in the first round. Turnout for the Mayor race was 31.23 per cent while 31.02 per cent voted in the PCC election. The victory follows a surge in Tory support in councils across the region and country, while the party also won the Hartlepool parliamentary by-election.