Labour moves to scrap first past the post system in mayoral votes

Ministers are changing the voting system for mayoral elections in a move likely to make it harder for Reform politicians to take big regions such as Lincolnshire and Hull, as they did this year.

- Rowena Mason

The changes are part of a new devolution bill, intended to bring a "radical reset to local government", that will take further steps towards merging many district and county councils into unitary "strategic" authorities.

The move is likely to please Labour MPs and local authorities after frustration over losses in two recent contests in which Andrea Jenkyns, a Reform mayor, was elected on 42% of the vote in Lincolnshire, and Luke Campbell, the Reform mayor in Hull and East Yorkshire, received 35%.

Under the new legislation, mayors would now be elected under a preferential system rather than first past the post, a change designed to make sure candidates have broader support.