2021 England and Wales police and crime commissioner elections

Police and crime commissioners (PCCs) are elected representatives with responsibility for policing in each police area in England and Wales. Each police area—with the exception of Greater London and Greater Manchester, where the directly elected mayor is the policing authority instead—elects a commissioner every four years.

This is the third set of police and crime commissioner elections to be held, following the creation of the role by the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011 which led to the holding of the first elections in November 2012.

The Policing and Crime Act 2017 amended the above Act and enabled PCCs to take on governance of the local fire and rescue service as the Fire Authority. This has been implemented by the election of Police Fire and Crime commissioners in the following areas:[3]

• Staffordshire was legislated for on 1 August 2018.[4]
• Essex was legislated for on 1 October 2018.[5]
• Northamptonshire was legislated for on 15 November 2018.[6]
• North Yorkshire was legislated for on 1 January 2019.[7]

Owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, the elections due to be held in May 2020 were delayed until May 2021; this applied to the PCC elections as well as those for local authorities and elected mayors.[2] The postponement was implemented by the Coronavirus Act 2020 which was enacted on 25 March 2020.[8]

The act stipulates that the postponement is to be ignored in determining the years in which subsequent elections are to be held,[9] thus the commissioners elected in 2021 will be in office for three years, not the usual four.

• Barry Coppinger, Labour Cleveland Police and Crime Commissioner since 2012.[10]
• Ray Bisby, acting Conservative Cambridgeshire Police and Crime Commissioner since 2019.[11]
• Matthew Ellis, Conservative Staffordshire Police and Crime Commissioner since 2012[12]
• Ron Hogg, Labour Durham Police and Crime Commissioner since 2012, died in office.[13]
• Kathryn Holloway, Conservative Bedfordshire Police and Crime Commissioner since 2016.[14]
• David Jamieson, Labour West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner since 2014.[12]
• Angus Macpherson, Conservative Wiltshire Police and Crime Commissioner since 2012.[15]
• Sue Mountstevens, Independent Avon and Somerset Police and Crime Commissioner since 2012.[16]
• Martyn Underhill, Independent Dorset Police and Crime Commissioner since 2012.[17][18]

Incumbent police and crime commissioners are marked with an asterisk (*).