Metro Mayor for the West of England: Meet the candidates (and the chaos)
Local Demoracy Reporting Service
The day I was commissioned to write this piece, I was sitting in Castle Park eating the traditional lunch of the cosmopolitan wokerati, a falafel salad box, when I was approached by a BBC journalist, down from London to cover the election.
Unwilling to share either my secrets or my falafels, we chatted about the responses he was getting. It was telling: most people didn’t seem to know anything about the election, aside from vague mutterings about Arron “Banksy” Banks and the recent arrest of Dan Norris on suspicion of rape and child sexual offences.
I didn’t have the heart to tell him that the glazed expressions he was getting on a sunny afternoon in Castle Park might not be caused solely by apathy towards municipal governance.
Whether they’re enthused, disengaged or otherwise distracted on Thursday 1 May, the people of Bristol, South Gloucestershire, and Bath & North East Somerset (but not North Somerset, though they may move to join the combined authority) will go to the polls to elect the next Mayor of the West of England.
Metro Mayors have limited powers. In the West of England, these extend mostly to transport, skills and training and being able to coordinate local councils. Many have complained about the lack of real authority.
Despite this, they are some of the most recognisable figures in local politics. That name recognition might be the real source of their influence. Andy Burnham maintains an outsized presence in national politics through his Manchester mayoralty (granted, the most significantly empowered of the roles). Dan Norris seemingly used his as a launchpad back into Parliament after 14 years in the political wilderness. The importance of reputation may explain why some within Labour ensured Norris made the shortlist for the role, despite scraping the bare minimum nominations, while more popular candidates to his left were dropped.
This election will be the first WECA contest run under first-past-the-post, thanks to the Electoral Reform Act 2022. Back in 2021, Norris won 59.5% of the vote in the second round, with 33% in the first. The Conservatives got 29%, the Greens 22%, and the Lib Dems 16%. The Greens and Lib Dems were eliminated before the second round, and their voters’ second choices were distributed between Labour and the Conservatives.
But a lot has changed since 2021. The Greens have taken power in both Bristol City Council and the Bristol Central parliamentary seat, unseating Labour, though they’ve subsequently disappointed parts of their base.
Labour, meanwhile, swept to power nationally in 2024 in a victory notable for the number of seats won and the conspicuously low number of votes it took to win them. Their approach since then has not exactly capitalised on the momentum, and they now find themselves neck-and-neck with Reform and the Tories in national polling.
With a new voting system, a right-wing challenger in Reform, the expected result this time around is far from clear, with a YouGov poll — the only one published for this election so far — suggesting it will be a tight contest.
The poll has Green candidate Mary Page in the lead with 27% of the vote, but with Labour’s Helen Godwin just behind her with 23%. Meanwhile Reform’s Arron Banks on 18% is “neck and neck” with Conservative Steve Smith on 17%. Liberal Democrat candidate Oli Henman is on 13%, with independent Ian Scott polling at 2%.
Who are the WECA candidates?
Arron “Banksy” Banks – Reform UK
Perhaps the most infamous name on the ballot is Arron “Banksy” (or not, for legal reasons) Banks. One of the self-styled “Bad Boys of Brexit,” leader of unofficial Leave campaign Leave.EU, and a major UKIP funder, Banks has been the source of many a headline.
Unlike their general election line-up, which included a naturopath and a neurolinguistic programming-trained bodybuilder, Reform has opted for a more conventional approach here. Banks is a local business owner, and if nothing else, a household name.
His campaign strategy seems largely focused on reminding Bristolians how much they hate him.
Banks is no stranger to controversy. In 2017, he tweeted that Bristol resembled “a little Somalia”, and in April of this year, he doubled down on his racist comments, blaming Somalis and Romanians for crime in the city.
He was also a key figure in the Cambridge Analytica and Russian bot scandals during the EU referendum, working closely with alt-right whisperer and failed Trump advisor Steve Bannon. While the impact of both CA and Russian meddling was likely overstated, it did ignite global debates about data rights and “fake news.” So keep an eye out for Twitter trolls with Cyrillic bios and a surprising interest in South West Buses.
Banks, like Steve Smith, wants to “end the war on motorists.” He also claims he’ll “audit the hell” out of the councils to reveal “rampant corruption,” citing “politically motivated wokery” rather than, say, the millions funnelled annually to consultancy firms, who, ironically, he’d likely pay even more to carry out said audit.
Mary Page – Green Party
Is she a Lib Dem? Is she a Green? Is she against the position she’s running for? Yes, yes, and no (though party policy is). Meet Mary Page, the Green candidate for Metro Mayor and former “Abolish the Mayor” campaigner.
Page previously worked as a BBC Radio Sheffield reporter and as a political adviser to the Lib Dems on South Gloucestershire Council. She ran as the Lib Dem candidate for Bristol Mayor in 2019 before joining the Greens in 2023.
She wasn’t the Greens’ first choice: the original pick was Deputy Leader of Bristol Council Heather Mack. But after Mack stepped down in January, citing council commitments, Page was the last woman standing and defaulted into the candidacy.
She’s advocating for a rebrand of the Birthday Bus Pass scheme into something called the “Freedom Pass”, allowing each person one free day of bus travel a week. That’s at least 21 extra free rides a year (more if you’re cursed with a February birthday).
Helen Godwin – Labour
Helen Godwin first became a councillor for Southmead in 2016, was re-elected in 2021, and served as Marvin Rees’ cabinet member for Women, Children and Young People, until she left in August 2021 for a role at consultancy giant PwC. By Christmas Eve, she announced she was stepping down from the council entirely due to the demands of her new job.
PwC is no stranger to controversy. In 2013, Margaret Hodge accused the Big Four accounting firms, which include PwC, of having an “unhealthily cosy relationship with government,” helping draft tax laws they’d later help clients exploit. In 2023, PwC Cyprus helped Russian oligarch Alexei Mordashov shift £1 billion in assets the day he was sanctioned. Back home, PwC was fined £7.5 million for auditing failures, like failing to review a £3bn contract or claiming to audit a €640m contract written entirely in French… without anyone on the team who could speak French.
Local journalist Jo Boothe pointed out that since Godwin joined PwC, Bristol City Council, where Godwin previously worked, has awarded the firm numerous contracts. The Cable can confirm £1.3 million in contracts were given to PWC from 2022 onwards. A spokesperson for the candidate’s campaign said Godwin was not involved in the process of these contract agreements.
Like many of the other candidates, Godwin wants to open more train stations. Unlike the other candidates, she touts her ability to work effectively with fellow Labour members in central government.
Her campaign materials tell us “Elections in the West of England are always close between Labour and the Conservatives”, which is only true if you just count the two WECA elections run under a different system. You can tell she’s a go-getter though, because she will not stop pacing.
Ian Scott – Independent
Ian Scott is the lone independent in the race, a bold move given the £5,000 deposit required to stand. Whether he’ll recoup that (by getting 5% of the vote) remains to be seen.
A regional officer for the NEU, Scott is a familiar face on picket lines and has decades of experience as a councillor. A self-declared “left-Bennite,” he was a Labour councillor until recently, but chose to run as an independent after failing to make Labour’s shortlist. He accused the party of age and sex discrimination for removing older men from consideration, though he is younger than Dan Norris, Labour’s previous candidate. Labour says he simply failed to attend his interview.
His candidate booklet pages lacked design flair. He may be many things, and he lists them all, but he probably wouldn’t claim graphic design is his passion.
His campaign hasn’t set the world on fire (I think that’s one of Arron Bank’s policies), but hey, stranger things have happened.
Oli Henman – Liberal Democrats
UN worker by day, local councillor in Bath by night, Oli Henman is also apparently a distant relative of Tim Henman.
Henman co-chairs a UN stakeholder group and has a long history in Lib Dem politics, working for former MP Paul Keetch and standing for parliament (unsuccessfully) in East Worthing and Shoreham, and Lewes. He finally won in 2023, becoming a councillor in Walcot, Bath, where he leads on climate policy.
His main pledge: a “mass rapid transit system” to connect the region. Former Bristol Mayor Marvin Rees pitched something similar, with underground elements, plans which were vetoed by Norris despite both being Labour members.
Henman likes jogging, the environment, and gives off the energy of a particularly benign HR manager.
Steve Smith – Conservatives
Former Bristol councillor and Lord Mayor Steve Smith is somehow always described as “Bristolian by marriage.” It’s unclear if this happened during the oaths or the honeymoon. He now works as the non-executive director for a GP federation and runs his own consultancy, Canford Farm Consulting Ltd, which helps SMEs win public contracts.
Canford’s testimonials include glowing praise from Cimy George, a care home owner whose Gloucester care home (his only one in the region) was put into special measures in March 2023. It’s since improved… a bit.
Smith wants to “end the war on motorists” and keep Park Street open to cars. Perhaps surprisingly, he has also joined all the other candidates (except Arron Banks) in saying he would franchise the buses, giving the mayor control over routes and ticket prices.
So… Who Should You Vote For?
If you were hoping to vote for someone firm in their convictions, scandal-free, or untainted by controversy, will you find them at this election? Your options include a few consultants, a couple of ex-advisors, an independent with a WordArt aesthetic, and a self-proclaimed bad boy.
The role, already dented by Dan Norris’ dramatic exit, doesn’t appear to have drawn out the parties’ finest. To borrow the tagline from Alien vs. Predator (for balance, I’ll let you assign which monster is which): “Whoever wins, we lose.”
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Anyone of you interested in bringing back, what were, very useful bus services? We as public members who will give you our votes want to see this happen ASAP & to talk to the general public will be a starter.
Ian Scott was a rare thing when on Avon Fire Authority, a councillor who engaged with the public and didn’t just do whatever Avon Fire Service wanted.
Avon Fire Service & majority of their AFA councillors year after year reject damning reports & state how fabulous they are!
Thanks Ian, voting for you!