Straws have been drawn to decide a winner in one of Hartlepool Council's wards after a tie between two Labour candidates.

It was a dead heat for Moss Boddy and Julie Clayton in the Rossmere Ward.

Moss Boddy won the straw draw.

The result for the full council is expected to be announced later.

We're expecting a few more results this afternoon. Here is what is due to be declared

• Durham County Council
• Hartlepool Council
• Durham Police and Crime Commissioner
• North Tyneside Mayor

John Herdman hopes to be able to display the replica, which took three months to build.

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Leicester City manager Brendan Rodgers says his side's 4-2 defeat against Newcastle United is a "huge disappointment" but he is "excited" by the challenge to make the top four.

The former Labour MP for Bishop Auckland, Helen Goodman, has failed in her bid to become a Durham county councillor.

Ms Goodman, who lost her seat to Conservative Dehenna Davison in the December 2019 general election, had been standing for the West Auckland ward.

Image source, UK Parliament

Incumbent councillors Rob Yorke, Labour, and Conservative Mark Roberts took the ward's two seats, external.

Almost 40 of the council's 63 wards have been declared so far, external.

Mr Yorke secured 1,023 votes and Mr Roberts 993 with a ward turnout of 37%.

Conservative Declan Gilroy finished third with 921 and Ms Goodman, who had been Bishop Auckland's MP since 2005 and was a Labour whip and deputy leader of the House of Commons, came fourth with 731 votes.

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The Conservative Party will "work to repay voters' faith in them" after the victory at Hartlepool, its co-chairman has promised.

Amanda Milling described Jill Mortimer as a "fantastic MP", who would "work tirelessly for the people of Hartlepool".

She added: “We’re delighted that the people of Hartlepool have put their faith in Jill and the Conservatives to deliver on their priorities: to bring the change, investment and jobs Hartlepool deserves.

“The work to repay that faith starts right now, as we continue with our agenda to level up and build back better from the pandemic."

Image source, PA Media

Conservative Ben Houchen has been re-elected the mayor of Tees Valley, receiving just under a 73% share of the vote.

Speaking to the BBC he says there is a "pride returning" to the area, adding it is "not true" the government has pumped lots of money into it over the past few years only because it was run by a Conservative.

He argues he has achieved more with the same amount of money than Labour mayors in the North West.

Houchen adds the problems in his area "won't be solved in a few years" but big projects - like the freeport and the airport - are "moving us in the right direction".

Senior Conservatives have congratulated Ben Houchen on his landslide victory in the Tees Valley mayoral contest.

Party co-chairman Amanda Milling and Chancellor Rishi Sunak were among those who highlighted Mr Houchen's re-election.

Tom Tugendhat, chairman of the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, said: "Few have done more to transform a community. Teesside is a very different place.

"Leadership matters. We need more elected mayors delivering for our communities."

Ben Houchen won 73% of the vote ahead of Labour's Jessie Joe Jacobs, the only other candidate.

PA News
Tom Wilkinson

Boris Johnson came face to face with a 30ft (9m) inflatable version of himself in Hartlepool after his party won an historic by-election.

The prime minister commented that the £2,000 replica reminded him of Superintendent Ted Hastings from BBC One's Line Of Duty.

Image source, Reuters

Members of Hartlepool's business community caused a stir when they erected the inflatable outside the town's by-election count at 04:00.

It was later moved to the marina, where the prime minister was meeting the town's new MP, Jill Mortimer.

The group behind the blow-up Boris, known as the Hartlepool Wombles, denied it was a partisan stunt.

One of the group, who asked not to be named, said: "We are doing this to mark a historic change in Hartlepool.

"I'm not particularly political, in fact I didn't even vote."

Second preference votes are being counted in the Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) election after no candidate got more than 50% in first preferences.

In the first round, Labour's Kim McGuinness was more than 60,000 votes head - securing 179,021 (47%) votes ahead of Conservative Duncan Crute's 118,543 (31%), independent Julian Kilburn's 45,567 (12%) and Lib Dem Peter Maughan's 40,955 (10%).

A declaration was expected between 15:00-16:00 but it's now expected to be later.

Turnout for the vote is 36.9%

Hartlepool's newly elect MP Conservative Jill Mortimer has told the BBC that people in the town "knew they'd been taken for granted for 57 years and they wanted positive change". She is the first Conservative to win in the town since 1959.

She also cited Brexit, the vaccine roll-out and the record of Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen in bringing investment into the area as other important factors in her victory.

She said that locals "will start to see the difference" in the town.

Luke Walton
BBC Look North

Look North political reporter Luke Walton is covering the Cleveland PCC election and said the result was "not entirely unexpected perhaps because of the Hartlepool by-election result".

He's been at the count in Thornaby where Conservative candidate Steve Turner's has been elected with nearly double the number of votes as his nearest rival.

Luke said: "It's still a big blow for Labour and a massive result for the Conservatives because Labour has lost seats here with the likes of Redcar and Stockton South in recent years, and I was speaking to a Labour party activist here who said the mood of the party is despondent."