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Bristow elected Cambridgeshire and Peterborough mayor

Kate Moser Andon
BBC political reporter, Cambridgeshire
Ben Schofield/BBC Paul Bristow with a blue rosette on, smiling at the cameraBen Schofield/BBC
Paul Bristow won the mayoral election with more than 28% of the vote

Conservative candidate Paul Bristow has been elected as Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority mayor with 28.4% of the vote.

Bristow, who came first out of five candidates to be mayor, said the win was an "amazing privilege".

He said: "It's a big job and we really need someone who can grab the ball, run with it, and represent Cambridgeshire."

The turnout was 33.1%.

There are a pile of black ballot boxes stacked inside a counting centre. A number of people can be seen in the background sitting and standing at desks.
Counting took place on Friday morning after the polls closed the previous night

This is the first mayoral election for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough held using the first-past-the-post system, meaning the candidate with the most votes won.

Bristow won 60,243 votes, followed closely by Reform UK candidate Ryan Coogan with 49,647 votes.

Labour's Anna Smith came third (42,671 votes), followed by Lorna Dupre for the Liberal Democrats (41,611) and Bob Ensch for the Green Party (18,255).

Bristow was the MP for Peterborough between 2019 and 2024, which he described as the "most important thing I've ever done in my life".

He said: "I'm representing my home county now [...] hopefully this will be the most important thing I'll ever do."

Bristow vowed to be a "campaigning mayor", to improve infrastructure in the county and tackle inequality.

He said: "Cambridge is internationally significant, it contributes hugely to our economy nationally, but we need to share that prosperity so people in the Fens and people in Peterborough can also be healthier, wealthier and happier."

Analysis: Kate Moser Andon, BBC Political Reporter, Cambridgeshire

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough once more have a Conservative mayor.

But this is not a "true blue" county – the Liberal Democrats now have a majority on Cambridgeshire County Council, while Reform UK took 10 council seats and the Greens took three.

Paul Bristow will have to work with other parties to make his mark as mayor.

He will be the leader of the combined authority, where decisions are made by its board, consisting of the leader of the district and city councils and the county council.

His task over the next four years will be to bring all of those different political people together.

Not to mention he will be lobbying a Labour government.

The other story of the mayoral race is the rise of Reform UK, whose candidate Ryan Coogan won 23.4% of the vote.

Coogan was the top candidate for voters in Fenland, where back in 2016, 73.7% of the population voted to leave the European Union.

This did not clinch the win for Coogan, but shows how Reform UK has become a tangible threat to both the Conservatives and Labour.

Ben Schofield/BBC Nik Johnson standing outside wearing a blue suitBen Schofield/BBC
Nik Johnson won the 2021 mayoral election but decided not to run again

In the last elections, in 2021, Labour's Nik Johnson won with 51.3% of the vote, under a supplementary system.

Johnson beat the previous Conservative mayor James Palmer in the second round of voting, after no candidate received 50% of the vote initially.

He decided against running again to focus on his health, having had open heart surgery twice during his term of office.

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough was one of six areas that first held elections for combined authority mayors in 2017.

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