The most intriguing aspect of today’s local elections is the contest for the new West Midlands Mayoralty. In normal times, you’d have this marked down as a shoe-in for Labour—they have 21 of the region’s 28 MPs and control six of its seven local authorities.
But these aren’t normal political times and the Tories have run a vigorous campaign with a strong candidate, the former John Lewis boss Andy Street. Labour, by contrast, have an underwhelming candidate, the MP turned MEP Sion Simon—whose greatest distinction is his time as a restaurant reviewer for this magazine. Labour have run a distinctly low-energy campaign in the West Midlands, relying on the local party machine to try and get him over the line in what they calculate will be a low turnout election.
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