Ben Houchen re-elected Tees Valley Mayor

Lord Houchen attended the count with his wife Rachel and their baby

Conservative Ben Houchen has won Thursday's election in what will be his third consecutive term as Tees Valley Mayor.

Lord Houchen has been in the role since its creation in 2017 and was re-elected in 2021.

His victory was declared at the count in Thornaby, in Stockton-on-Tees, on Friday.

Labour's Chris McEwan and Liberal Democrat Simon Thorley also ran for the role.

Lord Houchen won all five council areas, but with a reduced majority over Labour.

It has reduced from 73% in 2021 to 53.6% this year.

Labour received 41.3% of the votes, while the Liberal Democrats got 5%.

The turnout was 31%, down by 3.1% in the last election.

Labour said the result in Tees Valley should be "a major wake-up call" for the prime minister.

Lord Houchen attended the count with his wife Rachel and their three-month-old baby, Hannah.

He said it was the "greatest honour anyone could give me" to be re-elected as mayor in the "place where I'm going to be for the rest of my life".

"I am absolutely humbled by everybody that voted for me, Teesside is a place where I was born, where I grew up, other than a very short sabbatical to Newcastle for four years and then I came straight back," the mayor said.

Lord Houchen acknowledged there was "still a long way to go" as he thanked voters for "backing" his plan for the "next four years", and said he was "making good progress".

A Labour spokesperson said: "This swing towards Labour in Tees Valley puts Labour on track to win every single seat in the area in a general election.

"The Conservatives should be extremely worried that their candidate had to run as an independent to win.

"If Rishi Sunak doesn't take this result as a major wake-up call, he is in denial."

Analysis from Richard Moss, Political editor, North East and Cumbria

Ben Houchen’s win will be a relief to him, but also to Rishi Sunak.

It proves a Conservative can still win in the areas the prime minister needs to retain to stay in government, even if it was a far tighter result than when the Tory mayor took 73% of the vote in 2021.

But perhaps not just any Conservative can win. Despite a controversial second term where he has had to face constant questions about a deal with local businessmen to regenerate a former steelworks site, the main problem he faced was his own party’s crashing poll ratings.

Ben Houchen was clear in his campaign that supporters should base their choice of mayor on local issues, and ignore Westminster politics. It has worked for him, but is not likely to be an appeal the area’s Conservative MPs can repeat come a general election.

Labour will then feel they did well enough here to set the party on course to undo the 2019 gains Boris Johnson made in their heartlands - and perhaps a bit more.