91Èȱ¬

Labour's Simon Foster has been re-elected as the West Midlands' police and crime commissioner.

He won by 327,844 votes, while his Conservative rival Tom Byrne received 241,827 votes.

"The only honour and privilege greater than being elected by our fellow citizens is to be re-elected by your fellow citizens," he said after his victory.

In March Mr Foster won a legal battle over who should have the powers to scrutinise, and set budgets for, West Midlands Police.

Judges at the Court of Appeal ruled that a process to scrap the role had been unlawful due to a lack of consultation.

The 91Èȱ¬ Office had applied for permission to dissolve the role, and merge its powers with the office of the West Midlands mayor.

Voters across the region went to the polls on Thursday, with counting taking place at the International Convention Centre (ICC) in Birmingham on Saturday.

West Midlands Police was placed into special measures last year, after being rated as inadequate in a number of key areas.

Mr Foster was first elected as police and crime commissioner in May 2021, when he secured 301,406 votes ahead of Tory rival Jagjeet Singh Sohal's 259,839.

The results are not directly comparable due to a change in the voting system and there were also six candidates overall at that election.

Mr Foster has lived in the West Midlands for 35 years, and has been a legal aid solicitor for the same length of time.

He was a partner in a legal aid law firm for 22 years, specialising in housing and public law.

Mr Foster is married with three daughters.

Mr Byrne, 29, was recently an aide to West Midlands Mayor Andy Street and had been among the front-runners for Tory selection at the Tamworth by-election in October.

He also served as a West Midlands police officer between 2016 and 2021, and said people felt less safe in the region and cited wasteful spending.

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