Elections 2021: Conservative Matthew Scott retains Kent PCC role

Conservative candidate Matthew Scott has been re-elected as Kent's police and crime commissioner (PCC).

Mr Scott won 56% of first-choice votes, avoiding the need for a second count.

He won 237,278 votes, beating Labour's Lola Oyewusi on 103,807 and Liberal Democrat Graham Colley's 69,464. The turnout was 31.8%.

Mr Scott, a former local councillor who has been Kent's PCC since 2016, said he was "delighted to have been re-elected" and vowed to "make our county safer".

He increased his share of the vote from 2016, when he beat UKIP candidate Henry Bolton by less than 17,000 votes after a second count.

First elected in 2012, PCCs help control police budgets and hold a force's chief constable to account for the performance of officers and staff.

They are elected every four years. This vote was due to take place in May 2020, but was postponed due to the pandemic.