Cllr Anne Handley is the Conservative leader of East Riding Council and is the Conservative candidate to become Hull and East Yorkshire Mayor.
And it’s clear from the way other mayors have been operating, the failure to get a deal done is one reason why we’ve fallen behind. For example, we have many similarities with our friends at the other end of the M62.
There in the west, Liverpool City Region’s Labour mayor, Steve Rotheram has been making things happen. He’s got his head down and has been working away to improve his area. People in Hull and East Yorkshire haven’t had that champion, that person who is driving improvement in so many areas such as transport, adult education and economic growth. I want to be that champion for my region.
It’s something I’ll be working tirelessly to achieve in 2025. I’ll be working as tirelessly as have since becoming leader of East Riding Council in 2023, to get the deal in place. I’ve persuaded, cajoled, negotiated and occasionally banged heads together to get this devolution deal over the line. I understand how much we need a mayor and the benefits it can bring. I understand how the mayor will be able to make an impact. I understand how the funding will work. I understand what a mayor can and cannot do and how they can drive the area forwards.
Further than that, I understand what the area needs and how to get it done. Getting things done is what I’ve been doing through my working and political life. Becoming mayor is the best chance I have to do more, like fixing our public transport issues. For instance, in some rural parts of East Yorkshire, there are villages which only see one bus a week while even getting a train to somewhere like Leeds is often impossible let alone travelling further afield. We also have the largest port by tonnage in the whole of the UK. We build trains here. But we need to ensure our people living here, young and old, have the skills to fill the jobs and power our region to greater economic success.
Fixing these issues is within the remit of the new mayor and it is a golden opportunity for us to grasp the nettle. But becoming mayor in May is not going to be easy. We face challenges from Labour, the Lib Dems and Reform. They all have small strongholds in different parts of the region. It is a battle we can win. Conservative supporters are right across our area, but they need something, someone, to go and vote for.
My job, and that of my excellent campaign team is to show them I am the best person to become mayor. If I can achieve that in the next few months, then we can be successful. I will show people how I can fix the problems, champion our region and make the most of all the great things we have going on and improve the lives of everyone in Hull and East Yorkshire. But I will need help from the wider Conservative family.
On my Christmas wishlist is the hope people will come up to support our campaign and give us a real shot at winning. We’re all fully aware of how bad 2024 has turned out, but as we renew the party under our new leader Kemi, winning elections like this one would be a positive, bold, step in the right direction. We can show people we are turning the ship around.
So, I would appeal to anyone who has the time to please help us to win here. There are so many things people can do to help us, and already it feels like there is so little time in which to complete everything we want to achieve. The days, weeks and months will fly by until we reach polling day in May. Until then I’ll be giving it my all.
It’s fair to say not everyone in my region is fully across the mayoral election. But among those who do know about it, there is a palpable sense of excitement at the opportunity to make things happen. We’ve waited for too long for this opportunity, but now it is here, with your help, I intend making the most of it.