Matthew Scott re-elected as Kent PCC
Conservative Police and Crime Commissioner wins third term in office, bucking the national trend
Matthew Scott has been re-elected as Kent Police and Crime Commissioner, bucking the national trend of significant Conservative losses.
Following a weekend of dramatic results, Kent decided to wait until Sunday to count votes for Kent’s Police and Crime Commissioner, with a count led by Gravesham Borough Council.
Across Kent, the final result was:
Matthew Scott (Conservative) - 120,491 (44.1%)
Lenny Rolles (Labour) - 92,508 (33.9%)
Graham Colley (Liberal Democrat) - 60,279 (22.1%)
Turnout across the county was 20.2%. down from 31.8% in 2021.
In Medway, where the turnout was 15.3%, Lenny Rolles did better, winning 13,275 (42.4%) votes to 12,695 (40.5%) for Matthew Scott. Graham Colley polled 4,923 (15.7%).
Incumbent PCC Matthew Scott told us that he had “lost a lot of great colleagues” but later said he was “absolutely thrilled” to have won during his victory speech.
Speaking to us, Labour candidate Lenny Rolles said it was “always going to be challenging” to turn some parts of Kent towards his party, citing struggles in the parts “that aren't facing the same sort of challenges that we're facing in Medway and along the coastal industry communities that seem to have been left forgotten and left behind by the Conservatives.”
Liberal Democrat Graham Colley, who came in third place overall, declared that his party had done “better than perhaps we hoped”, having increased his vote share compared to 2021.
Think the turnout is down because the 2021 election was at the same time as most Kent Districts had local elections. All the elections due in 2020 had been postponed to 2021, for obvious reasons. This time, fewer Districts. Meanwhile, the winning candidate got less than 50% of the vote, so the gerrymander to go for the person with the largest number (even if less than half), compared to the previous system of supplemental vote, could have affected the outcome.