BARNSLEY Central MP Dan Jarvis won yesterday's election for the first Mayor of South Yorkshire - but the vote was closer than some thought with 'second preference votes' needing to be counted.
Mr Jarvis - who has vowed to do the job without Mayoral salary while remaining an MP - failed to achieve 50 per cent of the overall vote, meaning a second count was required looking at people's 'second preference votes'.
Turnout was 25.8 per cent overall, and 24.99 per cent in Barnsley where it was higher than in both Doncaster and Rortherham. Sheffield had a higher turnout of 31.5 per cent.
His campaign almost came off the tracks when his party decided he would have to quit as an MP if elected Mayor, but that was resolved last month and he will continue in both roles.
In his victory speech he said: "I am proud to have been elected the first Mayor of the Sheffield City Region. I'm grateful for the opportunity to serve, and I stand ready to get on with the job of drawing our region together.
"I've always believed that South Yorkshire is a place with huge potential. We have wonderful people with great talent and I'm utterly committed to repaying the trust and the faith that the public have put in me."
Mr Jarvis received 144,154 votes after second preference votes were counted. Conservative Ian Walker came second with 50,619 votes.
Despite going to a 'second preference' count, Dan still won with a very clear margin. The first preference results in full were as follows:
Dan Jarvis, Labour and Co-operative Party 122,635 (48.0%)Ian Geoffrey Walker, Conservative Party 37,738 (14.8%)Hannah Ruth Kitching, Liberal Democrats 27,146 (10.7%)Mick Bower, The Yorkshire Party 22,318 (8.7%)Robert Murphy, Green Party 20,339 (8.0%)David Stewart Allen, English Democrats 14,547 (5.7%) Naveen Judah, South Yorkshire Save Our NHS 10,837 (4.2%)
Only the two candidates with the most votes had their second preerences counted. Dan received 21,519 second choice votes, compared to Conservative Ian Walker's 12,881. This gave a finaltotal of:
Dan Jarvis, Labour, 144,154Ian Geoffrey Walker, Conservative, 50,619
