PM sends message to Labour after Tees Valley win

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has been celebrating Ben Houchen's victory for the Conservatives in the Tees Valley mayoral race, amid a bad set of results elsewhere for the Tories in the local elections.

Mr Sunak has said said the opposition needed to win seats like Tees Valley if it was going to be successful at a general election.

He claimed Labour thought the Tees Valley seat would "just stroll back to them" and he claimed voters there "couldn't be taken for granted".

It was one of the few wins for the Conservative who have lost hundreds of council seats.

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