The Conservatives have secured victory in one of the most high-profile metro mayoral votes of the local elections after Ben Houchen clung on to his post in Tees Valley, a result that could prove to be a political lifeline for Rishi Sunak.

Houchen was defending a huge majority and was elected despite a 16.5 percentage point swing to Labour. He won 81,930 votes (53.6%) against 63,141 (41.3%) for Labour and 7,679 (5%) for the Liberal Democrats. At the last election he won 73% of the votes.

Houchen bucked the prevailing anti-Tory trend by being elected for a third term in a region that was once a solid Labour heartland.

Labour said Houchen had essentially campaigned as an independent and that voters were not giving the national Conservative party their support.

However, hours later the shine was somewhat taken off Houchen’s victory when Labour won the inaugural mayoral election in York and North Yorkshire – a region that includes Rishi Sunak’s Richmond constituency – with a majority of almost 15,000 over the Conservatives. David Skaith polled 66,761 votes (35.06%) with Keane Duncan (Conservative) on 51,967, Lib Dems third, Greens fourth and two independents in fifth and sixth.

The mayoral votes have been one of the most keenly watched of all Thursday’s local election contests. Campaigners had predicted that the result in Tees Valley and the West Midlands, which will be announced on Saturday, would define how UK politics played out for the rest of 2024.

Defeat for Houchen could have spurred Tory rebels to move against their leader but the win gives the prime minister and his supporters a glimmer of hope and enables Sunak loyalists to claim the party can still win seats under his leadership.

In his acceptance speech, Houchen made no reference to the Conservatives or to Rishi Sunak. Instead he said he was humbled and proud. “To be re-elected for a third term in my home, in my community, is absolutely the greatest honour.”

He thanked voters for buying into his vision for the next four years adding: “There is a still long way to go.”

The swing to Labour was significant. It was not enough for victory but more than enough for regional wins at a general election, said the defeated candidate Chris McEwan.

“It will take a 12% swing to bring these parliamentary seats back to Labour,” he said. “There is a recognition on the doorstep that the Labour party has changed and it is time for a change after 14 years of Conservative government.”

McEwan said he had been up against someone who was in effect an independent.

“I have clearly been fighting an incumbent who’s been well resourced and who has sought to act as an independent and distance himself from Rishi Sunak.”

Houchen looked confident at the mayoral count in Thornaby, appearing relaxed and smiling as he posed for pictures with his wife, Rachel, and their baby daughter Hannah.

The writing was on the wall for Labour when the first vote came in from the first local authority area, Hartlepool, at 11.10am. It was a slender but comfortable majority that was repeated in the votes from Tees Valley’s four other areas – Darlington, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland, and Stockton-on-Tees.

Houchen benefitted from there being no Reform candidate standing in Tees Valley.

The former NHS manager and deputy leader of Darlington council was also helped when the Green candidate, Sally Bunce, pulled out early in the campaign, saying she did not want to split the vote against Houchen.

Looming over the election was an independent report into Houchen’s governance of Teesworks, one of the highest-profile, government-backed regeneration schemes in Britain.

The damning report found that taxpayers were not being guaranteed value for money or transparency and made 28 detailed recommendations.

The governance of Teesworks, however, was never the biggest issue for campaigners on the doorstep. Not even a late intervention by Steve Gibson, the chair of Middlesbrough FC, was enough to get Labour over the line.

Gibson, a former vice chair of the South Tees Development Corporation board, said a controversial decision to hand over 90% ownership of the former Redcar steelworks site to private partners was “stupid” and “unforgivable”. He said: “He’s given away hundreds of millions of pounds without any explanation.”