This year voters across Suffolk will be choosing who will be the county's Police and Crime Commissioner for the next four years.

Conservative Tim Passmore has been in the role since the post was created and was last re-elected in 2021.

That election was held a year late because the 2020 election was delayed by the Covid pandemic but now the cycle reverts to its usual cycle.

Mr Passmore is one of only three PCCs first elected in 2012 still in place - and is hoping to win a fourth term.

But he could face his toughest test since he scraped through on a count of second preference votes against Labour's Jane Basham in the first election.

This year Labour has chosen the former directly-elected mayor of Newham in East London, Sir Robin Wales, to challenge Mr Passmore.

And the Green Party has just announced that East Suffolk councillor Rachel Smith-Lyte will be its candidate in the election.

It is expected there could be Liberal Democrat and Reform UK candidates as well - and possibly independents coming forward.

And with the Conservatives struggling in the polls Mr Passmore could be facing quite a struggle to retain a position he has held for nearly 12 years.

The election will take place on Thursday May 2 - there are borough council elections in Ipswich on the same day but not in any other Suffolk districts.

Unlike previous PCC elections, this year's will be run on a straightforward first past the post system.

The election is being organised by West Suffolk council - but the actual votes will be counted in individual district counts across the county.

Their results will be passed through to the West Suffolk count where the result will be announced at the end of a daytime count on Friday morning. It is expected the result will be announced at about lunchtime on May 3.