STORY
Reform UK has won the Norfolk Police and Crime Commissioner by-election, in a shock result which underlines Labour’s continuing problems in the county after Norwich South MP Clive Lewis called earlier this year for Sir Keir Starmer to step down. Colin Sutton, a former detective, was elected as Norfolk’s new police and crime commissioner after securing 32,647 votes.
The Labour candidate, Beth Jones, finished fifth with 14,192 votes, behind Reform UK, the Conservatives, the Greens and independent candidate Marcus Pearcey. The result will add to concerns about Labour’s position in Norfolk, where the party has struggled since the local elections and where internal criticism of Starmer’s leadership became unusually direct.
Sutton’s victory also makes him the first Reform UK police and crime commissioner. ITV News reported that he is a retired detective who helped bring Levi Bellfield to justice and that he won 26.6% of the vote in a low-turnout contest.
The by-election was held on 16 July after Sarah Taylor resigned as Norfolk’s police and crime commissioner with immediate effect in June. The Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Norfolk said Taylor’s resignation had been received on 4 June, while later reporting said she had cited complex family reasons.
The official declaration showed turnout was just 17.14%, with 429 rejected ballot papers. Matthew Taylor, the Conservative candidate, came second with 18,343 votes, followed by Green candidate Martin Schmierer on 16,907, independent Marcus Pearcey on 16,402, Labour’s Beth Jones on 14,192, Restore Britain’s Mark Buckton on 13,319 and Liberal Democrat Christopher Brown on 10,499.
The result comes little more than two months after Lewis said Starmer should step down following Labour’s heavy local election losses. Speaking to ITV News Anglia in May, Lewis said the results were not merely a difficult night or a messaging problem, but a “political crisis” which risked becoming terminal if Labour did not face it honestly.
Lewis said at the time that the Prime Minister had reached the point where the question was no longer whether he could recover, but whether staying on would cause lasting damage to Labour’s ability to govern, rebuild trust and stop the advance of the right. He added that a timetable for Starmer’s departure was necessary and warned that Labour’s base was collapsing in provincial England.