Candidates from Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party are lining up to challenge Conservative Alison Hernandez who is seeking re-election as police and crime commissioner for Devon and Cornwall.

The voting takes place across the two counties on Thursday 6 May, alongside elections for Cornwall and Devon councils, a third of the seats in Exeter and Plymouth, local council by-elections, parish and town councils and neighbourhood plan referendums. 

The Labour candidate for commissioner is Gareth Derrick, a former Royal Navy commodore, who is a Plymouth city councillor and was parliamentary candidate in South East Cornwall in 2017 and 2019. He came a close second to Ms Hernandez at the last PCC election in 2014.

The Liberal Democrat candidate is Brian Blake, a former police officer who served with the Devon and Cornwall force for more than 30 years and stood at the first PCC election in 2012.

The Green Party candidate is Stuart Jackson, who worked as a training officer with the force until 2018. He says he decided to stand in the light of events around the death in March of Sarah Everard, which triggered public debate about violence against women and girls. 

Conservative Ms Hernandez narrowly beat Mr Derrick last time round in 2016 to become the commissioner for Devon, Cornwall, and the Isles of Scilly. She polled 91,036 votes with her Labour rival on 87,242 after the count went to a second round.

Police and crime commissioners are elected by the public to ensure the policing needs of communities are met and to oversee how crime is tackled. They produce a police and crime plan to set force priorities, but have no role in operational policing.