RON Hogg kept his job as Durham’s Police and Crime Commissioner and immediately promised to keep improving the county’s ‘outstanding’ force in the face of budget challenges.

The Labour candidate took almost two thirds of the votes, with 50,915 followed by Conservative candidate Peter Cuthbertson (18,797) and Liberal Democrat Craig Martin (10,060).

After the results were announced by returning officer Colette Longbottom, at Spennymoor Leisure Centre this morning (Friday, May 6), Mr Hogg said he was pleased to increase his overall majority from when he was first elected in November, 2012.

He was particularly pleased to secure an overall majority in Darlington, unlike last time, with 7,103 votes. Mr Martin came second in Darlington with 3,467 and Mr Cuthbertson got 2,559.

Mr Hogg said: “The next four years are going to be really hard and I’m glad I’ve been reelected, we’ll continue to try to deliver the excellence we have got.

“But we know we are going to be stretched with budget challenges.”

He said 50 police officers will be lost this year as the force has to save £3million but he said he will oppose further cuts and not allow privatisation, saying he was proud Durham is the only force in the country rated outstanding for efficiency and effectiveness and achieved that without outsourcing any services.

He said: “I think if the private companies purporting to deliver policing services want to find out how it is done they can come here and we’ll charge them a consultancy fee.”

Mr Hogg said the force would not rest on its laurels and said strong leadership; frontline police and support staff and partnerships with statutory bodies, the voluntary and community sector and communities would help it to continually improve.

He said neighbourhood policing is at the heart of his work, adding: “I look forward to working on behalf of local people to support victims of crime and anti-social behaviour, and to ensure we have an outstanding police force to help keep communities safe.”

Chief Constable of Durham Constabulary, Mike Barton, said: “I very much look forward to working with him to ensure we deliver the best possible police service for the people of County Durham and Darlington.”