JUST 12.5 per cent of Solihull
residents voted in this week’s police and crime commissioner elections, with
voters choosing the Conservative candidate.
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Some 19,830 people voted in Thursday’s poll, of which 19,294
were valid.
Conservative candidate Matt Bennett was borough residents’
first choice with 7,348 votes while Labour’s Bob Jones was second with 4,555
votes.
But Mr Jones has taken the post after votes from other districts in the
West Midlands were added.
Other results from the first preference round were: Bill
Etheridge (UK Independence Party) 1,540; Cath Hannon (Independent) 4,478; Ayoub
Khan (Liberal Democrats) 650; Mike Rumble (Independent) 1,501 and Derek Webley
(Independent) 1,750.
All were eliminated after the first round.
Region wide, Mr Jones got 117,388 votes compared to Mr Bennett’s
55,685 to take the £100,000-a-year post.
He will work with the chief constable to set policing
priorities and allocate the £546m budget.
Mr Jones has pledged to introduce community-led local
policing boards.
A Wolverhampton city councillor, he
has sat on the West Midlands Police Authority, which his post replaces, since
1985.
The West Midlands turnout was the 12
per cent, with Coventry the lowest
at 10.18 per cent.
A national review will be carried out by the ElectoralCommission after a turnout of less than 15 per cent in England
and Wales .
