Labour narrowly wins North Tyneside mayoral race
BBCLabour has retained the mayoralty of North Tyneside after beating Reform UK by a thin margin.
Karen Clark tallied 16,230 votes, putting her just 444 ahead of John Falkenstein.
Clark, who effectively becomes leader of North Tyneside Council, said the close result was down to people using a protest vote over the national political landscape.
The Conservatives, who are the official opposition on the local authority, came third.
Clark, who has been a councillor and cabinet member for a number of years, urged voters to look at "what Labour has achieved on North Tyneside" in the last 12 years.
Thanking people for her election, she said she would "work to the best of my abilities for the residents of this borough, as promised, to make our North Tyneside an even better place to live, work and visit".
On her battle against Reform UK, she said: "I think it's in keeping with the national trend.
"It is always difficult when you're a party that is in government.
"The government has found itself in a difficult position after 14 years of Conservative government and has had to make difficult decisions.
"They know the whole situation of the finances in government."
Clark succeeds Dame Norma Redfearn, who had held the post since 2013.
Tynemouth MP and Labour chief whip Alan Campbell said it had been "important" for the party to retain the mayoralty "after the fantastic work Norma did".
He added he was "grateful that voters across North Tyneside have put their faith" in Clark for the next four years.
Falkenstein told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: "I think we have diminished what I believed to be a 30,000 majority.
"I cannot see how this is a real victory for the Labour Party."
The former barrister, with experience in youth work, also stated that had his campaign had more resources and a longer than four-week start, the end result could well have been different.
"They [Labour] have not done themselves much justice."
Liam Bones, who stood for the Conservatives, said the result was "clearly indicative of a national sense of distrust towards the main parties".
He added: "That is something we need to address if we are to regain the trust of the British people.
"Reform is a protest party, they stood in this election with no local policies and no understanding of how local services are actually delivered on the ground."
Reform UK leader and MP Nigel Farage visited Newton Aycliffe in County Durham to celebrate his party taking control of the county council.
In a speech, he said the party had came "within a whisker" of winning the North Tyneside mayoral contest in a Labour heartland and had "frightened the life out of the governing Conservatives" in Northumberland.
The count had faced a delay owing to a discrepancy between previously announced vote and turnout figures.
Initially announced as 31%, the turnout was later confirmed to be 33%, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.
Elsewhere, the Conservatives remain the biggest party on Northumberland County Council following the local elections there, but Reform UK came a close second. The council remains under no overall control.
