Steve Rotheram wins third term as mayor
Labour's Steve Rotheram has won his third successive term as mayor of Liverpool City Region.
Mr Rotheram, who was first elected in 2017, beat his nearest rival by more than 156,000 votes and increased his vote share by 9.7 points.
Conservative Jade Marsden was second in the poll, narrowly ahead of the Green Party's Tom Crane.
In his victory speech, the mayor said the region's voters had "hollered at the top of their voices" to tell the government "enough is enough" and urged Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to call a general election.
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Mr Rotheram secured 183,932 votes, ahead of Ms Marsden, who received 27,708, and Mr Crane, who got 26,417.
Liberal Democrats' Rob McAllister-Bell was fourth with 21,366 votes and independent Ian Smith came last with 11,032.
Accepting the victory, Mr Rotheram said the people of Liverpool City Region had "just spoken, they have hollered loud and clear".
"They have two messages - to the government, 'enough is enough', and locally, 'Labour is delivering'," he said.
"The road to Downing Street runs through transformative Labour administrations in local and regional government.
"With Labour in Westminster, we will get to see what real devolution is like, not the limited decentralisation we are seeing now."
He added that Mr Sunak was "squatting in Downing Street" and needed to call a general election.
Mr Rotheram also criticised the Elections Act 2022, which requires voters to have photo ID in order to vote.
He said to "those who were unable to have their voices heard" because of the "regressive" law, "I understand your disappointment".
"I met many people on the doorstep who couldn't vote and I think it's wrong to deny a single person their democratic right to vote," he said.
Ms Marsden said not many people would "ever understand the honour of being on a ballot paper and playing such a major role in democracy".
"It has been an absolute privilege to be a candidate for Liverpool City Region, the best region in the world," she added.
This was the first time people in the region have voted for a mayor using first-past-the-post method.
Previously, the supplementary vote system was used where voters could pick a first and second choice of candidate.
The turnout was 23.7% with 272,721 votes cast.
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