By Isle of Wight Observer
By Jason Lewis, Local Democracy Reporter and IW Observer
Conservative Donna Jones admitted securing a second term, as Police & Crime Commissioner, was “even more victorious” given the difficult set of election results for her party across the county.
Labour claimed nine PCCs from the Tories across England, while the party in government also lost hundreds of council seats, after residents went to the polls on Thursday, May 2.
Ms Jones bucked these trends as she stormed to a significant majority over second-placed candidate, Becky Williams (Labour), in the Hampshire and Isle of Wight contest.
The former leader of Portsmouth City Council received 175,953 votes, with her nearest competitor gaining 106,141 votes. Liberal Democrat, Prad Bains, polled third with 92,843 votes, while Don Jerrard (The Justice & Anti-Corruption Party) received 40,961 votes.
Speaking after the declaration at Southampton Civic Centre on Friday, Ms Jones said: “I just want to say a huge thank you to the people of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight for putting their trust and confidence in me.
“I’ve got almost a 20 per cent majority here in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight – the fifth largest police force in the country, representing two million people and hundreds of thousands of businesses. That’s very humbling. It is a big job. There is a lot of work still to be done and the work for me starts tomorrow.”
The re-elected PCC, who will swear her oath of officer on Wednesday, May 8, said she was absolutely determined, alongside Chief Constable Scott Chilton, to get a thousand more police officers “as quickly as we can”.
She said 650 had already been delivered and money was already aside in the current budget for an additional 75 officers to be recruited.
The turnout across Hampshire and the Island was 28.38 per cent, with 415,628 valid votes, and 6,337 rejected for various reasons. On the Island the turnout was just 16.4 per cent. Only 18,035 residents turned out, with 144 ballot papers rejected. Donna Jones won 8,997 votes, just under 50 per cent of the total number cast.
Mal Butler