The
2018 Yorkshire provinicial election was held in Yorkshire on 13 June 2018. Incumbent Sheriff Gavin Williamson was defeated by Jodie Whittaker. The Republicans lost their overall majority in the Provincial Council, while the Chartists emerged as the largest party only 2 seats short of a majority. They entered a coalition government with the Radical Party.
The election followed three years of tumult. Williamson had been elected in 2015 with a rare majority, and was seen as a wunderkind who had turned around the fortunes of the Republicans by presenting himself as a clean-break from the previous Republican provinicial government of Andrew Jones. Three years later, this sheen had worn off. The government of Williamson was marred in scandal after scandal, starting in the 2016 Dirty Hands scandal, continuing through the Republican #SpeakOut scandal, and to the 2017 Pig Fat scandal. Williamson was seen as a lame duck, and though there were attempts to replace him as leader, plotters struggled to present an agreeable replacement candidate.
Whittaker emerged as leader of the Yorkshire Political Union, the provincial wing of the Chartist Party, after contentious local leader John Cable stepped down. She had become well-known for her work in
The Colour of Magic, and turned towards provinicial politics as part of the #SpeakOut movement
. Her election was controversial, with claims that fans of her work as an actress had joined the YPU en masse to vote for her. Nevertheless, she was seen as a popular figure, and is credited for the revival of the Chartists' image after the gaffe-prone Cable years.
The campaign largely focused on the scandals of the Williamson government, to which the Republicans had no effective response. Williamson initially discounted that the scandals had "cut-through" with the electorate. He later claimed that the scandals were a conspiracy to discredit him personally. In contrast, Whittaker presented herself as a "free-thinking" candidate, outside the mold of a normal Chartist, and pledged to restore stability to the provincial government, while investing in the region's growing digital and cultural economies, engaging in a housebuilding program, and legislating for Yorkshire to become a "haven province" for asylum seekers. The Republicans countered that Whittaker would "bankrupt the province by giving refugees lavish estates". In response the Chartists ran an ad focusing on Williamson's lawsuits, which went viral on the Instanet; "House money or hush money?". Williamson avoided media for much of the rest of the campaign, and on election day all polls pointed toward a Chartist victory.
In the aftermath of the election, Whittaker formed a coalition government with the smaller Radical Party, giving her government a working majority of 62. Whittaker was confirmed as Sheriff by the Provincial Council on the 22 June 2018. Radicals were appointed to prominent provinicial ministerial roles in justice, education and infrastructure, and Radical leader David Davis was appointed as deputy Sheriff.