Mark Weston was first elected as a councillor nearly 20 years ago, and has led the local Tory party for a decade. As a councillor for Henbury and Brentry on Bristol’s northern edge, he talks to Neil about the different needs of Bristol’s suburbs, which are sometimes forgotten about.
A critic of the mayoral system, Weston has been in opposition under both George Ferguson and Marvin Rees.
He talks to Neil Maggs about how that the adversarial and sometimes toxic brand of party politics depicted in the media and seen at full council meetings isn’t the whole picture, which gives him hope for councillors of political persuasions working together after May’s elections.
With the Tories trailing miserably in the national polls, it’s expected they’ll need a miracle to win the upcoming general election. But first, how will the legacy of 14 years of Tory rule impact the party’s chances in Bristol?
On the eve of the local elections, Neil and Mark Weston discuss the Tories miserable national polling, the so-called ‘war on motorists’ being waged by Bristol City Council, and the cultural divides between Bristol’s inner city and suburbs.
This is the third episode of our Bristol Unpacked local election series. You can still listen back to the interviews with Labour’s Tom Renhard and Lib Dem Jos Clark. Check out the rest of our special local election coverage here.
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Please publish transcripts of your interviews; I want to read, not listen!