- Gloucestershire has one of only three independent Police and Crime Commissioners in England and Wales
- Voter turnout locally was the highest in the south west and one of the highest in the country
- Martin Surl was the first choice of five out Gloucestershire’s six districts
- He swept the board under the second preference voting system
Police and Crime Commissioner Martin Surl will be formally sworn-in today (Thursday, 23 June) at one of Gloucester’s most history medieval buildings, 13th century Blackfriars Priory.
Mr. Surl began his second term in office on 12 May having signed the legal documents allowing him to carry out the role immediately after his election was confirmed. The legislation states the ceremonial part of the proceedings can take place any time within two months of that date.
The scale of Mr. Surl’s election victory was notable as:
- He is now one of only three independent PCCs in the country
- He was the first choice of voters in five of Gloucestershire’s six districts
- He increased his majority polling 78,592 votes
- Voter turnout in Gloucestershire was 30.5% the highest in the south west and one of the highest in the country
He said, “I thought I had a good chance but you never know. It’s a better result than I anticipated to be honest.
“I’ve written a manifesto and over the next six months or so I’ll be sitting down with members of my team, the Chief Constable and others and work out how we can turn that manifesto into a plan for the next four years.
“Rest assured, I’ll keep listening to the public about what they want and do my best to make sure they’re served by a fantastic police force for the next four years at least”
PCC elections are run under the ‘second preference’ system. Mr. Surl polled 42%, narrowly failing to get the 50% majority required to win on the first ballot.
On second preference votes, the margin was even more emphatic as he collected a further 21,145 votes compared to Conservative Candidate Windsor-Clive’s 4,602.
Mr. Surl said, “The public were hungry for information and I tried to supply that as best I could. I travelled hundreds of miles and spent more money on my trailer than the Government did to explain what this election was about. That may be one reason why there were so many spoiled ballot papers and I’ve promised to look into that.
Mr. Surl and England’s two other independent PCCs are all in the South West. Although voters in 16 police force areas in England had the option of at least one independent, they all returned Conservative or Labour Party candidates. In Wales, the nationalist party Plaid Cymru won two PCC seats while Labour took the other two.
