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Labour’s Gary Godden has been elected as Nottinghamshire’s new police and crime commissioner.

He defeated the sitting Conservative PCC Caroline Henry by more than 40,000 votes.

Liberal Democrat David Watts was beaten into third place.

Mr Godden received 119,355 votes, compared to 77,148 for Mrs Henry and 32,410 for Mr Watts.

Gary Godden (right) has been elected Nottinghamshire's new PCC, defeating Caroline Henry and David Watts. Photo: Submitted

The PCC is responsible setting the force’s £290m budget, decides how much council tax residents should pay, and ensures the public gets value for money.

The even hold the power to sack the chief constable.

Since the role was created in 2012, the Nottinghamshire PCC role has been occupied first by Paddy Tipping (Lab) and then Mrs Henry, who was elected in 2021.

Mr Godden said he was ‘humbled’ by the victory, which saw him win every single district across Nottinghamshire.

He said: “Ensuring there’s trust in the police is a big part of my job.

“I am there to hold the chief constable to account and ensure there’s a policing plan to reflect the priorities on the community.”

He promised to connect with the police of Nottinghamshire and understand what they wanted.

Mrs Henry said she regretted not being able to see the work through to take the force out of special measures, which it was put into in March by watchdog His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS).

She said: “The force will absolutely get out of special measures.

"There is a plan to fix that and that work has already started.

“Three years isn’t a long done to do as much as I wanted, but we achieved 10 per cent more police on the beat and a massive reduction in local crime.

"I would have loved to have done more.”

Mr Watts urged the new PCC to get the force talking to the public.

He said: “One of the places Nottinghamshire Police fall short is they’re not very good at communicating.

"They need to learn from recent bad media and explain what they’re doing to the public.

“The PCC should be making sure we tackle crime and the fear of crime so people know that things can get better.

“They need to make sure that the whole of the county has an effective police force and it’s not just sucked into the city.”

Labour's Gary Godden beats Caroline Henry in Nottinghamshire police commissioner race