Ben Houchen’s Tees Valley mayoralty win offers Rishi Sunak a lifeline

Defeat could have spurred Conservative rebels to move against prime minister

• Local and mayoral election results - live updates

The Conservatives have secured victory in one of the most high-profile metro mayoral votes of the local elections after Ben Houchen clung on to his post in Tees Valley, a result that could prove to be a political lifeline for Rishi Sunak.

Houchen was defending a huge majority and was elected despite a 16.5 percentage point swing to Labour. He won 81,930 votes (53.6%) against 63,141 (41.3%) for Labour and 7,679 (5%) for the Liberal Democrats. At the last election he won 73% of the votes.