Local elections 2023: Labour's Chris Cooke ousts Andy Preston as Middlesbrough mayor

Labour's Chris Cooke pulled off a shock political win by defeating Andy Preston to become Middlesbrough's mayor.

In a tight race, Mr Cooke won by just 760 votes, with 10,956 votes to Independent Mr Preston's 10,196.

Meanwhile, in Redcar independent council leader Mary Lanigan has lost her seat, coming fourth in her ward.

At Darlington Borough Council the Conservatives lost eight seats, with Labour and the Green Party each gaining five.

At the Middlesbrough count Mr Cooke thanked the other candidates and described the process as a "whirlwind", adding he was looking forward to "getting on with the job".

Independent Jon Rathmell received 3,102 votes and Conservative John Cooper finished last with 2,997.

Turnout in the mayoral race was 27.75% with 27,479 votes cast out of a total electorate of 99,034.

It was the first time the mayor was elected on a first-past-the-post basis.

Mr Cooke, who grew up in the care system, vowed he would ensure the council became "a service-led organisation", and that children's social care would get his full focus.

"It's a very humbling process if I'm honest, these sort of things don't always happen to people who come from my sort of background but it's amazing that it has," he told the BBC.

"If we don't look after the most vulnerable in our society we are never going to make gains across the town."

The newly-elected mayor added he wanted to make sure the council becomes "more connected" to its communities.

He also expressed concern over the low turnout, adding that more effort was needed to engage people with democracy.

"It's incredibly important, these people decide who is in charge of their town and they should have a good say about that."

Mr Preston, who had been mayor since 2019, was the pre-election favourite but his hopes of serving for another four years were dashed.

The ousted mayor said he would have loved to have seen through his plans but he had given his all and was looking forward to getting his life back.

"It's been an amazing four years, incredibly difficult, incredibly tough," he said after his defeat.

"I knew I was the favourite, I knew it was going to be tight but I thought I might sneak it so it's a bit of a surprise.

"I have got mixed feelings, there's a lot of great work that I really wanted to continue but I have a family. I have a million interests that I haven't been able to focus on."

He told the BBC he did not think he would stand again.

Counting is under way to elect ward councillors across Middlesbrough, as well as for Stockton-on-Tees borough council.

Overnight, Labour also celebrated becoming the biggest party on the council in Hartlepool but remain one seat short of an overall majority, which was all down to just two votes.

They missed out in Hart ward to the Conservatives by 493 to 491, which leaves them with 18 out of 36 councillors. The council remains under no control.

Labour group leader Brenda Harrison, who will become council leader, said it was disappointing to lose a seat so narrowly "but that's what I suppose they call politics".

She told BBC Radio Tees: "I think, being the largest group, we will manage to actually get the control that we need.

"It's good for the town to get back to some kind of governance that will look to do something for the people of Hartlepool and to try and improve their lives."

In Redcar, Mary Lanigan was not re-elected in the Loftus ward.

The out-going leader of Redcar and Cleveland Council came fourth, replaced by two independent councillors and one from Labour.

Ms Lanigan was formally censured in March for breaching the council's code of conduct after she "shouted like a banshee" during a long-running dispute with a neighbour.

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