First black female police commissioner elected

Emma Wools is the first black female police and crime commissioner elected

Welsh voters have elected the first black female police and crime commissioner (PCC).

Emma Wools was elected to serve the region of south Wales - holding the role for Labour.

The contest also saw the first women PCCs elected in the country, with the Labour leader of Newport council, Jane Mudd, also winning the contest in Gwent.

Labour held three of the Welsh PCCs, and Plaid Cymru's Dafydd Llywelyn held Dyfed-Powys, but there was a low turnout with only 17% of voters taking part.

Andy Dunbobbin, who has been PCC since 2021, was re-elected for Labour in North Wales.

PCCs are some of the best paid politicians in Wales, with the larger the force the higher the salary.

The South Wales PCC is paid £86,700 a year. In Gwent the salary is £73,302, while in north Wales it is £73,300.

In Dyfed-Powys the salary is £68,200.

Ms Wools and Ms Mudd were selected by Labour to replace Alun Michael in south Wales and Jeff Cuthbert in Gwent, who have both stood down.

The newly elected PCC for south Wales said it was an "enormous privilege and an enormous responsibility".

"It is a powerful opportunity to create change, promote diversity and inclusion, and advocate for underrepresented communities," she said.

PCCs set budgets and priorities for police forces, but do not run them day-to-day.

That is the ultimate responsibility of the chief constable, who PCCs can hire and fire.

The elections are the first in Wales that required voters to show identification. Voting took place on Thursday with counting on Friday.

Jane Mudd said she would resign as Newport council leader if she was elected

In South Wales, Ms Wools received 73,128 votes, the Conservatives 43,344, Plaid Cymru 27,410 and the Lib Dems 17,908.

Newport council leader Jane Mudd has said she would step down from her role at the council if she was successful in Gwent.

She admitted there was a low turnout "but we need to recognise this is a standalone election".

She told BBC Wales: "There is a job of work on continuing to raise awareness of the role of police and crime commissioner".

Ms Mudd received 28,476 votes, followed by the Conservatives with 21,919, Plaid Cymru with 9,864 and 8,078 for the Liberal Democrats .

Plaid Cymru celebrated holding Dyfed-Powys with 31,323, with the Conservatives coming second with 19,134 votes, Labour third with 18,353 and Liberal Democrats fourth with 7,719.

It is the first PCC election to use a first past the post voting system. Previous elections allowed voters to express a second preference if their preferred candidate was not elected.

Celebrating the Dyfed-Powys result, Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth said: "Despite trying to manipulate the result by changing the voting system, the Conservatives have been roundly defeated."

He claimed the electorate was not "enthused by Keir Starmer and are increasingly astonished by revelations about Vaughan Gething’s donations".

Andy Dunbobbin has been North Wales PCC since 2021

In North Wales, Mr Dunbobbin took 31,950 votes, the Conservatives 26,281, Plaid Cymru 23,466 and the Liberal Democrats 7,129.

Cardiff University's Ed Gareth Poole said the switch to first past the post in the election "aided incumbents".

He said there was "evidence of tactical voting", and said postal votes were "likely a majority of the vote".

The academic said on X that in two competitive races there was a large swing from Conservative to Plaid Cymru, and a Conservative to Labour swing in North Wales.

Dayfdd Llywelyn held the Dyfed Powys PCC for Plaid Cymru

Turnout

Low turnout had been expected because, unlike in parts of England, the PCC elections did not take place alongside local council elections.

The turnout for Thursday's elections was a slight increase on the worst turnout for a PCC election, when the roles were introduced in November 2012.

The first Welsh police elections saw 14.9% taking part. No other election was held that year either.

The highest turnout this year was in Dyfed-Powys at 19.2%, while the lowest was 15.63% in Gwent.

It stood at 17.19% in North Wales and 16.58% in South Wales.

Who is Emma Wools?

Emma Wools, 45, from Cardiff, was a psychology graduate from what is now the University of South Wales.

Ms Wools had a career in the criminal justice system before she joined the south Wales commissioner's office.

She began working in the probation service in 2001, working in courts in south Wales.

Before becoming deputy police and crime commissioner in 2016, she had been an assistant chief officer within the former National Offender Management Service, which was responsible for prisons and probation.