Cleveland's Returning Officer: PCC elections "much lower than other elections"

The turnout at the Police and Crime Commissioner elections has been low, with fewer than one in five people voting.

Turnout in the Cleveland area was 15.12 per cent.

Barry Coppinger won with a total of 31 340 votes compared with the Conservative candidate, Ken Lupton, coming second with 20 171 votes. 63 431 valid votes were cast.

Returning Officer, David Bond, says he is disappointed by the turnout and believes it may prompt the government to look at how it plans for similar elections in the future.

He said: "I wish it would have been much more obviously. It is clearly much lower than other elections we have dealt with over the years and clearly it means that a lot of people have chosen not to vote in this election."

He added: "I think in terms of the future, clearly people in governmentand so on will want to look at how this has worked out as an election overalland one will look to look to the future in terms of how they plan for similarelections for Police and Crime Commissioners going forward."