TRACY Brabin's victory in the West Yorkshire Mayor elections will be "bittersweet" given it triggers a by-election in the MP's constituency that Labour could struggle to win, according to a political expert.

Ms Brabin's new role as the region's first directly elected mayor means she must stand down in Batley & Spen, a position she has held since the by-election triggered by the 2016 murder of Jo Cox.

In addition Labour's majority in the constituency is around 3,500 votes - the same as in Hartlepool, the scene of a historic Conservative gain following Thursday's poll.

Dr Andrew Mycock, reader in politics at the University of Huddersfield told the Telegraph & Argus: "I think we can say that Tracy Brabin's victory in the mayoral election is a bittersweet victory. The fact that we will now have a by-election in Batley & Spen at a time when the Labour Party seems to be in in chaos nationally, it does not augur well for their prospects in Batley & Spen."

"The interesting thing is if you look at the local election data and the wards around Batley & Spen, the Conservatives had a slight majority in terms of votes cast in the local elections, and that may well show that there are troubled waters ahead.

"I think two things will matter significantly for Labour, and for the other parties in the by-election. One is the selection of the right candidate.

"I think also that they're going to need to focus on local issues - that there's going to be a need to shift away from Labour in terms of what's happening at a national level. But if you look at where Labour succeeded across England in the local elections, where they went, local, they won. Where they went national, they struggled."

He added: "I think it's going to be a very close one in Batley & Spen and much closer than many in the Labour Party would like."

Of the metro mayor election itself Dr Mycock explained that it was "rather underpowered", partly due to Covid and candidates inability to engage with the region's electorate in the tradition way.

But he also believes it highlighted "some limited understanding amongst citizens about what the role of the new mayor is and what are the implications in terms of devolution for West Yorkshire".

Of the 36 per cent turnout though, this was a marked improvement on the first cycle of combined authority mayors, he said.

Labour was "reading the runes of devolution" and putting up candidates of a national calibre. "There is only going to be more power passed down to these elected officials, and in many senses, they've got more chances of impacting positively on people's daily lives, being a Combined Authority mayor, that being an MP in Westminster and part of that machine politics."

He added that it would be for Ms Brabin to act as a figurehead, projecting the combined authority on a national scale, and bring a "real innovation to policy" as well as challenging Westminster that has been seen with other metro mayors, such as in Greater Manchester.

"So a significant challenge for Tracy Brabin is going to be to convince government to pass down more power, so they can take on more responsibility."

Ms Brabin polled 43.1 per cent of the first preference votes, with her closest challenger, the Conservative's Matt Robinson taking 29.1 per cent. The race went to second preferences for the pair, which saw Ms Brabin cross the line, with 59.8 per cent.