Election 2021: Conservative Darryl Preston wins Cambs PCC job

Former police officer Darryl Preston is the new Conservative police and crime commissioner for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough

Conservative Darryl Preston has been elected as Cambridgeshire and Peterborough's next police and crime commissioner (PCC).

Mr Preston defeated Labour's Nicky Massey after a second round of votes were counted.

He said his priorities were "cutting crime, protecting the public and supporting the victims of crime".

Following the second count, he won 114,053 votes, compared to Ms Massey's 102,195 votes.

Liberal Democrat Rupert Moss-Eccardt and Reform UK's Susan Morris were eliminated in the first round of voting.

The turnout was 36.2%.

This is a Conservative hold, although Ray Bisby, the PCC appointed in 2019, did not seek election.

He was appointed to the post after Jason Ablewhite, who was elected in 2016, had to stand down.

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Mr Preston said becoming PCC was "a privilege that carries great responsibility and an honour I do not take lightly".

He added he planned to put "more police in our cities" and would offer "better protection, better roads, protecting our rural communities, fighting organised crime [and] catching the very worst criminals who create so much misery in all our communities".

Mr Preston is a former police officer who served for 30 years, including 10 years in the Metropolitan Police and 20 years in Cambridgeshire.

PCCs are elected to oversee the work of their local police force.

PCCs are elected using the supplementary vote system, with people making a first and second choice.

If no candidate gets more than 50% of the first-choice votes, all except the top two candidates are eliminated.

At that stage the second votes of those residents whose first choice has been eliminated are counted.

In the first round, Mr Preston took the lead with 99,034 votes (42.9%)

Ms Massey received 72,313 votes (31.3%), Mr Moss-Eccardt 51,490 votes (22.3%) and Ms Morris 8,031 votes (3.5%).

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