Labour won a majority at the general election in four of the six city regions which will choose a metro mayor, according to new research, which lays out the challenges facing the major contenders before the May elections.

The party was comfortably ahead in the West Midlands, Greater Manchester, Liverpool and the Tees Valley in 2015 but the Tories won most votes in the West of England and Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.

The research, carried out by the Centre for Cities for The Times, will raise hopes among Labour activists that they can score a series of victories when the inaugural metro mayor elections are held. Labour is fielding a series of high-profile candidates including Andy Burnham, the former health secretary, and Sion Simon, an MEP.

Members’ optimism could be hit, however, by the shift in the opinion polls over the last 20 months, which has seen Brexit, Jeremy Corbyn elected twice and a series of changes across British politics.

At the general election Ed Miliband’s Labour polled 30.4 per cent compared to 36.9 per cent racked up by David Cameron’s Tories.

Yesterday, however, Labour recorded just 26 per cent, however, in a Guardian/ICM poll, some 16 points behind the Tories.

Now the analysis of six city regions by the Centre for Cities has provided a full portrait of the votes across parliamentary constituencies in May 2015, which is as follows:

West Midlands

Labour: 42.5 per cent

Conservative: 33.1 per cent

UKIP: 15.5 per cent

Lib Dems: 5.5 per cent

Greens: 2.9 per cent

Greater Manchester

Labour: 46.1 per cent

Conservative: 26.4 per cent

UKIP: 16.1 per cent

Lib Dems: 7.1 per cent

Greens: 3.5 per cent

Liverpool

Labour: 60.5 per cent

Conservative: 19.6 per cent

UKIP: 10.5 per cent

Lib Dems: 5.2 per cent

Greens: 3.5 per cent

Tees Valley

Labour: 43.3 per cent

Conservative: 29.9 per cent

UKIP 17.2 per cent

Lib Dems 5.3 per cent

Greens 2.4 per cent

West of England

Conservative: 36.8 per cent

Labour 28.1 per cent

Lib Dems: 14.1 per cent

UKIP: 11.1 per cent

Greens: 9.5 per cent

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough

Conservative: 45.6 per cent

Labour: 21.8 per cent

UKIP: 14.4 per cent

Lib Dems: 13.2 per cent

Greens: 4.7 per cent