Suffolk Conservative police chief, Tim Passmore, sees fourth consecutive win despite slimming majority
The Conservative candidate for the police chief role has just secured a fourth consecutive win despite a slimmed majority.
The results of the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) elections have just come through as a Tory hold — the fourth consecutive victory for Tim Passmore.
He has held the role since 2012 when PCCs were first introduced in a bid to ensure the police force is both effective and efficient.
In 2021, he led the ballots with just over 112,000 votes, about 65,000 more than the Labour runner-up.
This time around, although Mr Passmore retained his seat with 52,968 votes, his majority seemed to slip by a large margin, with Sir Robin Wales, from Labour, getting 41,734 votes — an 11,000-vote difference.
Turnout was also considerably worse this year with a total of 131,731 votes being cast, compared to 205,064 in 2021 — a 13.9 per cent difference in turnout.
Mr Passmore said he was delighted with the result despite the smaller gap, with national politics playing a part in how the vote turned out.
He added: “It’s a huge honour and a privilege to serve the people of Suffolk again — there is a lot to do so now let’s just get on and make Suffolk even better.
“I’m about putting the people of Suffolk first and that will remain right at the top of the agenda as long as I’m in this post.”
Mr Passmore also said he and his team would start to work on the force’s Police and Crime Plan as early as next week.
Last month, Sir Robin said voting for the Greens or the Lib Dems was akin to voting the Conservatives in for another term — together, the two parties gathered 37,029 votes, which would’ve been enough to swing the seat around.
Today, he said he was disappointed but not surprised at how the results panned out, having only secured a win in Ipswich where he held a 2,000-vote lead.
He added: “It’s democracy, people in Suffolk have made their choice, I’m sorry it was the wrong one, but that’s alright.
“There was a massively reduced majority today and that’s because people are sick to death of this Government.”
James Sandbach, the Liberal Demorat candidate and also a Saxmundham town councillor, said he was running to prove a point despite having no chance of being elected.
Last month, he announced he was running on a campaign to end the PCC role and, if elected, said he would refuse the salary and position.
Today, he added: “I was devastated with this election and I knew I had no chance really — what I set out to do was make the point that this role was not necessary.
“This post should be abolished, it adds nothing, it delivers nothing.”
The results were:
West Suffolk:
LAB – 8,003
GREEN – 3,627
LIB DEM – 2,942
CON – 10,802
East Suffolk:
LAB: 11,936
CON: 17,211
LIB DEM: 4,821
GREEN: 8,003
Babergh:
LAB: 4,087
GREEN: 2,430
LIB DEM: 1,813
CON: 6,717
MSDC:
LAB: 4,668
GREEN: 4,864
CON: 7,188
LIB DEM: 2,061
IBC:
CON: 11,050
GREEN: 3,564
LAB: 13,040
LIB DEM: 2,904
Total:
CON: 52,968
LAB: 41,734
LIB DEM: 14,54
GREEN: 22,488
