Labour’s Kim McGuinness has been re-elected as the Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner following Thursday’s election and has vowed to listen to Hexham and its surrounding community.

Ms McGuinness, who had already been in the position after being chosen to replace Dame Vera Bird in 2019 following her resignation, will now stay in the role in a three year term until 2024.

She won the election after defeating rivals Conservative Duncan Crute, Liberal Democrat Peter Maughan and Independent Julian Kilburn.

“Local people have made it very clear they want a Force focused on fighting crime and preventing crime – and these are my priorities too,” said Ms McGuinness following her re-election.

“I am so thankful to be re-elected and my work with Northumbria Police, NFU and local farming communities won’t stop.

“We need to make sure we are doing everything we can to protect rural Northumberland and prevent our patch from being targeted by professional criminals.

“Ensuring officers that police our countryside are well resourced is key and I will make sure of this.”

The vote, which was declared at the Silksworth Sports Centre in Sunderland, saw a 37% turnout.

“There have been some really successful operations and initiatives happening recently and we need to build on these and I welcome future opportunities to discuss the issues that matter to the people of Hexham and surrounding areas so we can keep fighting crime and improving lives for local people,” she added.

In the first round of voting, Ms McGuinness was announced as having 179,021 votes compared to the 118,543 votes that Mr Crute had received,

Both Mr Kilburn - who had received a total of 45,567 votes - and Mr Maughan - who had 40,955 votes - were eliminated after the first round.

It was then revealed Ms McGuinness had 206,467 votes compared to the 139,875 votes of her rival Mr Cute following the second round of votes.

The news means Labour continue to hold the position, which it has done since it was created in 2012 when Dame Vera was elected

The election had been set to take place in 2020 but the pandemic forced the event to be delayed until this year.