Reform UK’s Arron Banks has been defeated in the West of England mayoral election.
The millionaire Brexit backer finished second in a tight race which was won by Labour’s Helen Godwin by just three per cent of the vote.
Godwin received 51,197 votes (25%), while Mr Banks received 45,252 votes (22.1%).
Despite the loss, Banks labelled the result as “epic,” BristolLive reports.
He said: “That was a pretty epic response to be honest. Bristol and Bath should not be natural Reform territory and we aced it.
“The Greens will be disappointed they didn’t win but it was a good result for us.”
The Greens came third in the race with 41,094 votes.
During his campaign to be mayor, Banks had said he would use the role to “audit the hell out of local councils.”
He had also doubled down on comments he made in 2017 describing Bristol as “Little Somalia.” When he was asked about the comments during the campaign, he blamed Somalis for crime in the city despite there being zero evidence in crime figures to back this up.
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