Wolverhampton councilllor Bob Jones has been confirmed as the new Police and Crime Commissioner for the West Midlands.

The Labour councillor finished ahead of Conservative candidate Matt Bennett in an election overshadowed by a very low turnout.

Only 12.31 per cent of eligible voters bothered to turn out for the elections.

In some areas the turnout was as low as six or seven per cent as people rejected or ignored their first opportunity to select the region's police and crime commissioner.

After the second stage of vote counts, the election result saw Mr Jones pick up 117,388 votes and Mr Bennett 55,685.

The first stage of voting failed to produce an overall majority, but Mr Jones took 44 per cent of the votes cast.

Three independent candidates took more than a quarter of the vote between them.

The Liberal Democrat candidate Ayoub Khan finished sixth and polled just 3.4 per cent in Solihull, where the party’s Lorely Burt is the sitting MP.

The turnout is probably the lowest in election history, and was repeated in the PCC elections across the country.

Details emerged of schools – used as polling stations – closing for the sake of a handful of votes.

And one source suggested just six ballots were posted at Birmingham City University, while two polling stations in Coventry were said to have attracted no voters at all.


• Results
WEST MIDLANDS
(First Count)
Bob Jones (Lab) 100,130 (42.00%)
Matt Bennett (C) 44,130 (18.51%)
Cath Hannon (Ind) 30,778 (12.91%)
Bill Etheridge (Ukip) 17,563 (7.37%)
Derek Webley (Ind) 17,488 (7.34%)
Ayoub Khan (LD) 15,413 (6.47%)
Mike Rumble (Ind) 12,882 (5.40%)
Eliminated: Bill Etheridge, Cath Hannon, Ayoub Khan, Mike Rumble, Derek Webley
(Second Count)
Distribution of Etheridge's, Hannon's, Khan's, Rumble's and Webley's votes
Bob Jones (Lab) 117,388
Matt Bennett (C) 55,685
Elected: Bob Jones
Electorate 1,993,998; Turnout 238,384 (11.96%)

STAFFORDSHIRE
(First Count)
Matthew Ellis (C) 51,237 (51.85%)
Joy Garner (Lab) 47,589 (48.15%)
Elected: Matthew Ellis
Electorate 849,788; Turnout 98,826 (11.63%)

WEST MERCIA
(First Count)
Bill Longmore (Ind) 50,900 (37.75%)
Adrian Blackshaw (C) 49,298 (36.56%)
Simon Murphy (Lab) 34,652 (25.70%)
Eliminated: Simon Murphy
(Second Count)
Distribution of Murphy's votes
Bill Longmore (Ind) 71,955
Adrian Blackshaw (C) 54,499
Elected: Bill Longmore
Electorate 927,649; Turnout 134,850 (14.54%)

WARWICKSHIRE
(First Count)
James Plaskitt (Lab) 22,308 (34.70%)
Ron Ball (Ind) 21,410 (33.30%)
Fraser Pithie (C) 20,571 (32.00%)
Eliminated: Fraser Pithie
(Second Count)
Distribution of Pithie's votes
James Plaskitt (Lab) 25,200
Ron Ball (Ind) 33,231
Elected: Ron Ball
Electorate 422,163; Turnout 64,289 (15.23%)