Reform UK has won the Norfolk Police and Crime Commissioner by-election, as former Metropolitan Police detective Colin Sutton secured a decisive victory in what was once a Conservative stronghold.
Sutton received 32,647 votes, more than 14,000 ahead of the Conservatives on 18,343. Meanwhile Labour, which had previously held the PCC position, fell to fifth place with just 14,192 votes. Reform UK actually won more votes than both the Conservatives and Labour combined.
The result deals yet another blow to Tory claims of a so-called “Kemi bounce”, exposing the gulf between chatter in the Westminster bubble and what voters are actually doing at the ballot box. While Tory leader Kemi Badenoch and SW1 commentators have been talking up supposed signs of a Conservative revival, voters in one of the party’s former strongholds have delivered a brutal reality check.
The Conservatives took 45% of first-preference votes in the 2021 PCC election, held under the old supplementary-vote system. Their share then fell to 33.9% in 2024 and collapsed again to just 15% in this by-election - a drop of almost 19 percentage points and a loss of more than half of their vote share.
Badenoch previously argued that her party had reached “rock bottom” at the 2024 general election. But their performance in Norfolk suggests the Tories are still in freefall - even in formerly true-blue heartlands.
The people of Norfolk are clearly fed up with the uniparty and are ready for Reform. Colin Sutton brings three decades of frontline policing experience to the role, beginning his career in uniform before becoming a Detective Chief Inspector and Senior Investigating Officer in the Metropolitan Police. Here, he led more than 30 successful murder investigations, including catching serial killer Levi Bellfield and the “Night Stalker” rapist Delroy Grant.
Sutton, who has lived in and around Norfolk for the past 14 years, has said that his priority will be to restore “commonsense policing”. That means increasing foot patrols, expanding the use of stop-and-search and reopening police counters to the public. He will also focus on crimes that matter to local people, like anti-social behaviour, fly-tipping and rural equipment theft, not arresting people over social-media posts. Reform UK will scrap DEI policies, end two-tier policing and cut waste to deliver better value for taxpayers’ money.
Following his victory today, Sutton said: “It’s an honour that so many people across our great county have voted for me to be their PCC. Having led major investigations in law enforcement for many years, I know what’s needed to hit the ground running.”
He added: “Norfolk has an excellent police force, but too often it has ignored our rural areas in favour of our city and towns. That will change, and I will ensure that Norfolk Constabulary is a police force for the whole county.”
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said that Sutton’s experience meant he could “hit the ground running from day one”, contrasting him with politicians who take policing positions without having ever worked in law enforcement.
This victory follows Reform UK’s breakthrough in the Norfolk local elections in May, when it surged from two county council seats to 40 and took control of the authority. By contrast, the Tories collapsed from 58 seats to just eight.
Sutton received 32,647 votes, more than 14,000 ahead of the Conservatives on 18,343. Meanwhile Labour, which had previously held the PCC position, fell to fifth place with just 14,192 votes. Reform UK actually won more votes than both the Conservatives and Labour combined.
The result deals yet another blow to Tory claims of a so-called “Kemi bounce”, exposing the gulf between chatter in the Westminster bubble and what voters are actually doing at the ballot box. While Tory leader Kemi Badenoch and SW1 commentators have been talking up supposed signs of a Conservative revival, voters in one of the party’s former strongholds have delivered a brutal reality check.
The Conservatives took 45% of first-preference votes in the 2021 PCC election, held under the old supplementary-vote system. Their share then fell to 33.9% in 2024 and collapsed again to just 15% in this by-election - a drop of almost 19 percentage points and a loss of more than half of their vote share.
Badenoch previously argued that her party had reached “rock bottom” at the 2024 general election. But their performance in Norfolk suggests the Tories are still in freefall - even in formerly true-blue heartlands.
The people of Norfolk are clearly fed up with the uniparty and are ready for Reform. Colin Sutton brings three decades of frontline policing experience to the role, beginning his career in uniform before becoming a Detective Chief Inspector and Senior Investigating Officer in the Metropolitan Police. Here, he led more than 30 successful murder investigations, including catching serial killer Levi Bellfield and the “Night Stalker” rapist Delroy Grant.
Sutton, who has lived in and around Norfolk for the past 14 years, has said that his priority will be to restore “commonsense policing”. That means increasing foot patrols, expanding the use of stop-and-search and reopening police counters to the public. He will also focus on crimes that matter to local people, like anti-social behaviour, fly-tipping and rural equipment theft, not arresting people over social-media posts. Reform UK will scrap DEI policies, end two-tier policing and cut waste to deliver better value for taxpayers’ money.
Following his victory today, Sutton said: “It’s an honour that so many people across our great county have voted for me to be their PCC. Having led major investigations in law enforcement for many years, I know what’s needed to hit the ground running.”
He added: “Norfolk has an excellent police force, but too often it has ignored our rural areas in favour of our city and towns. That will change, and I will ensure that Norfolk Constabulary is a police force for the whole county.”
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said that Sutton’s experience meant he could “hit the ground running from day one”, contrasting him with politicians who take policing positions without having ever worked in law enforcement.
This victory follows Reform UK’s breakthrough in the Norfolk local elections in May, when it surged from two county council seats to 40 and took control of the authority. By contrast, the Tories collapsed from 58 seats to just eight.
