Steve Rotheram has been elected to serve a third term as the Mayor of the Liverpool City Region after a thumping victory.

Mayor Rotheram, who is the first and only person to hold the regional mayoral role since its inception in 2017, easily fended off competition from the Tories, Greens, Lib Dems and an independent candidate, to win four more years at the head of the city region's combined authority.

And he did so with an improved majority, securing a whopping 68% of the vote. This is around 10% more than he achieved in 2021, although the overall turnout was down by around 6%.

MORE: Local election results 2024 live for Liverpool City Region Mayor

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Mayor Rotheram received 183,932 of the 272,721 votes cast. Way back in second place was Conservative Jade Marsden with 27,708,while Green candidate Tom Crone put in a decent showing just behind her on 26,417.

It was a dissapointing result for Lib Dem candidate Rob McAllister-Bell, who had been eyeing up second place, but finished in fourth with just 21,366 votes. Independent candidate Ian Smith finished bottom of the pile with 11,032 votes.

While turnout was down, Mayor Rotheram will be delighted with his significantly improved vote share of 68%. In 2017, the first time the role was contested, the Labour man won with 59.3% of the vote. When he was re-elected in 2021, he secured 58.3% of the vote share.

In his victory speech at the Liverpool Tennis Centre today (Saturday), Mayor Rotheram said it was “an honour to serve your community at all levels,” thanking those who had used their vote and paid tribute to his family and supporters. He criticised the government’s “regressive voting idea laws” and said he found it “daunting” people were unable to “exercise their democratic rights.”

The Metro Mayor said in returning him for a third term at the top of the Combined Authority, voters had “hollered at the top of their voices with two simple and clear messages; to the government, enough is enough and locally Labour is delivering in power.” He added : “Up and down this country, ordinary people are fed up with the chaos, mismanagement and decline the Tories have presided over.

He also fired a dig at his election rivals, stating that "voters had not been hoodwinked by pie in the sky populist pledges."

The re-elected mayor added: “I want to make this Liverpool City Region the best place to grow up, grow a family and grow a business in," promising that he would “never let the Liverpool City Region down.”