London election results 2022: Croydon bucks London trend with Tory mayoral win

Jason Perry thanked his family and his late mother in his acceptance speech

Croydon's Conservatives have bucked the trend in London by winning the borough's first mayoralty.

The directly elected mayor replaces the former cabinet system, where councillors selected their own leader from within their ranks.

Fewer than 600 votes separated Conservative Jason Perry and Labour candidate Val Shawcross.

The win could lead to London's first council power-split, as Mr Perry may have to work with a Labour majority.

The results of the full council election are expected on Sunday.

In his acceptance speech Mr Perry paid a tearful tribute to his mother who died during the campaign.

The count was supposed to finish by 21:00 BST Friday but went on until nearly 05:00 on Saturday

It had been an unexpectedly long and gruelling count and dawn had broken by the time the final result was declared, following a run-off between Conservative and Labour candidates and then a final recount.

In a close contest, Labour's Val Shawcross picked up 6,617 second preferences, giving her a total of 38,023.

Mr Perry won 5,199 second preference votes in the run-off, but started with more first preference votes and ended with a combined tally of 38,612 votes.

He had to turn his back to the crowd on the stage to compose himself as he waited for the final declaration and became tearful during his acceptance speech, where he thanked his late mother for her support during the campaign.

As he left the stage, he shared an emotional embrace with his wife, Melanie, and son William, who also shed a tear as he congratulated his father and told him "she would be so proud".

A family embrace between new Mayor of Croydon Jason Perry, his son William and wife Melanie

Speaking to BBC London afterwards, William said: "It's a bit hard to put into words because my nan didn't make it but she was with my dad at his first count in 1994 and she's here today, looking down."

Croydon's new mayor said he was "very emotional, very excited and very much looking forward to getting to work" once the borough's new councillors were elected in a postponed count later on Saturday.

"It means a great deal," he said.

"Croydon has been in a bad place and now it's time for us to come together and move forwards.

"The finances I'm sure played a part. I really want to try and make it positive now, move on and get better.

"Obviously in London we have had a couple of difficult results but this will be a shining light, I hope, and we can show people how it's done because we bucked the trend. We're here to deliver."

Mr Perry also lent his support to Boris Johnson, despite his party losing councils including Westminster, Wandsworth and Barnet.

"I believe he is still the leader to lead us," he said.

"But I have not seen the outside world for a while."

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