THE election of independent Andy Preston as Middlesbrough mayor creates a fascinating new dynamic in the Tees Valley, where the combined authority of five councils is headed by a Conservative mayor, Ben Houchen.

Previously, the combined authority had felt like an uneasy marriage with Mr Houchen and the five Labour leaders politely trying to work together in public while, behind the scenes, they were desperately hoping to defeat one another.

The arrival of the independent changes that: five versus one potentially becomes four versus two.

And Labour could be weakened further as results come in from the five councils. It would be a major shock if either Darlington or Stockton threw the party out completely, but over night, Labour has lost its majority on Hartlepool council and it already runs a minority administration in Redcar & Cleveland, so it is no longer dominant in its heartland.

Mr Preston’s campaign had many similarities to Mr Houchen’s: similarly young-looking and energetic, he made six key pledges in the way that Mr Houchen made five. Like Mr Houchen’s parmo pledge, one could be seen as being an attractive gimmick – the planting of free orchards – but another pledge like Mr Houchen’s tapped into the growing concern about rampant house-building.

Perhaps Mr Preston’s most interesting pledge was on crime, and especially the way the Labour hierarchy has run Cleveland Police. Mr Houchen also had as one of his pledges the setting up of a commission into the possibility of scrapping the force altogether.

Those with long memories will remember that the main reason Middlesbrough voted to adopt the directly elected mayoral model in 2001 was because of its concerns over the cosy relations between Labour and the troubled force. In 2002, the town then elected former policeman Ray Mallon, who had been embroiled in a running battle with the upper echelons of the force, as its first mayor.

Seventeen years later, the force still hogs the headlines for all the wrong reasons, in a way that no other force does, and an independent mayor has been elected in a bid to get some change. It is a big job…