West Yorkshire devolution: Who could be in the running to be Yorkshire's newest mayor?
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At the December election nine Yorkshire seats previously held by Labour went to the Conservatives and across the North red constituencies turning blue was one of the themes of the night.
Since then Boris Johnson’s party has espoused the benefits of devolution, signing deals in South and West Yorkshire, with promises to do the same in the north and east of the region.
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Hide AdBut even though the message at the top might be the more local powers the better, the lack of Conservative candidates for West Yorkshire mayor paints a picture of uncertainty over whether the powerful role could go blue.
The deal, signed in March and to be laid before Parliament later this year once other boxes have been ticked, will unlock £1.8bn of funding and hand over control of transport, skills, the economy, housing and regeneration.
And all this will be headed up by a new directly-elected mayor, with elections to be held in May next year.
But before voters in West Yorkshire get to put their cross on the ballot paper, the parties have to decide who they think has the best shot of winning them the seat.
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Hide AdHow the candidates would use their new powers to build fairer, greener, and healthier communities across West Yorkshire will surely be a key point during campaigning, but so will representation.
Henri Murison, the director of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership lobbying group, said he felt the new mayor needed to be a woman.
“There are a number of strong candidates being talked about, and all of the serious names I’ve heard so far are senior women from within the region,” he said.
And with all current metro mayors across the country being men, he said that should be “widely welcomed”.
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Hide AdBut that is not to suggest that a woman who got the nomination would have done so through anything but being the best for the job.
The women being spoken about in Labour circles close to the selection are former Dewsbury MP Paula Sherriff, Batley and Spen MP Tracy Brabin, and leader of Bradford City Council Susan Hinchcliffe.
Ms Brabin said: “I’ve been approached by Labour members to think about it, and I’m sure there’s lots of other people who have had the same approaches. As someone who has advocated for the devolution deal it would be an honour to do it, but at the moment I’m very much focussed on the recovery from the coronavirus.”
She added: “I do think whoever it is, it’s got to be someone who has the reach and can work with opposite numbers, and we’ve got some really good examples of that in our Labour groups.”
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Hide AdWhile Ms Hinchcliffe added: “As Chair of West Yorkshire Combined Authority I am of course giving this serious consideration. However as a leader at this time of national pandemic, I have a place to run and a virus to beat.”
No Conservatives have announced yet that they will be putting themselves forward, but party co-chair Amanda Milling previously said the search was on for an “exceptional candidate”.
She said: “Many people may have already written the election off as a Labour victory, but as we can see from the four new Conservative constituencies in West Yorkshire, it is not a foregone conclusion and we will be fighting the best campaign we can to deliver a Conservative mayor for West Yorkshire.”
But within the party opinion remains split on whether the race is worth their effort, with one source suggesting officials might be better off focussing their attention on keeping Andy Street, the mayor of the West Midlands, in place in elections also held next year.
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Hide AdBut others suggest that December’s election victory shows the tables have turned and that throwing resources into fighting for the mayoral seat in West Yorkshire might see results - or at least give Labour a bloody nose on the way down.
“Look at Ben Houchen in Tees Valley,” one source said, referring to the Conservative’s unexpected victory in a former Labour heartland in 2017.
If he had not won his Colne Valley seat back in December, having previously lost it to Labour’s Thelma Walker, MP Jason McCartney might have been a credible pick.
Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, the Dewsbury-born former Minister, has been approached by Tory MPs about running but has decided she does not have enough time at this stage of her life to take on a job of this size.
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Hide AdHuddersfield Giants chairman and businessman Ken Davy has also been suggested, after coming within 5,000 votes of beating MP Barry Sheerman in December, although when approached by the Yorkshire Post he said the job was “not on his radar”.
Children’s Commissioner for England Anne Longfield, who grew up in West Yorkshire and lives in the region, is another name mentioned as a contender, along with Hemsworth Labour MP Jon Trickett, and Roger Marsh, Chair of the Leeds City Region Local Enterprise Partnership.
Hugh Goulbourne, a Huddersfield-based lawyer, has already signalled his intention to stand, and said: “I’ve come from