Gosport's Michael Lane is new Hampshire Police and Crime Commissioner

Conservative candidate Michael Lane has been elected the new Hampshire Police and Crime Commissioner, beating the former commissioner Simon Hayes to the role.
By The Newsroom
Published 6th May 2016, 20:11 BST
Updated 6th May 2016, 21:12 BST
Michael LaneMichael Lane
Michael Lane

Hundreds of thousands of people from across the county took to the polls to vote for their candidates.

Mr Lane, a former naval Commodore and councillor from Gosport, has been elected with a landslide victory of 153,990 votes.

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His nearest rival was Labour’s Robin Price, of Portsmouth, who clinched 87,744 votes.

Mr Lane could not achieve 50 per cent of the vote, so the number of second preference votes were added to his and nearest rival Mr Price’s totals.

Speaking after his victory, Mr Lane said: ‘It’s a great honour to stand as the elected Police and Crime Commissioner for Hampshire.

‘It’s a very proud moment, but I’m absolutely clear it’s going to be hard work and I look forward to starting that work soon.’

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The retired naval officer was a councillor between 2010 and 2014 on Gosport Borough Council.

He was a coach on a leadership programme at the Metropolitan Police Service and served on the county’s Strategic Independent Advisory Group.

This year’s Hampshire PCC turnout has almost doubled from the last election in 2012, with a total of 29.14 per cent of the county voting.

The first PCC election took place in 2012 and was plagued by a dismal turnout of just 15 per cent.

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At the time it was not entirely clear what the new position would entail.

Now three-and-a-half years on, that has become much clearer.

The job is not about being the head of the police force. Operational decisions are made by the chief constable. In Hampshire that is now Olivia Pinkney, who started last month.

Instead, the PCC is responsible for awarding contracts for services, running the estates and holding the chief constable and the police force to account.

The full results from the PCC election in Hampshire are:

Richard Adair (Liberal Democrat): 55,266

Simon Hayes (Independent): 60,743

Don Jerrad (Independent): 14,976

Michael Lane (Conservative): 153,990

Robin Price (Labour): 87,774

Roy Swales (UKIP): 54,115

Steve Watts (Zero Tolerance Policing Ex Chief): 35,989