The West Yorkshire devolution deal is our chance to reach for the stars

I’ve always felt a deep sense of pride coming from Batley. Growing up, I remember superstars from around the world coming to the Batley Variety Club to perform. Superstars like Louis Armstrong and Eartha Kitt strutting their stuff just a few miles down the road filled me with pride and ambition.

While it might be cheesy to say, I think the West Yorkshire devolution deal is our chance to reach for the stars once again. A chance to attract international investment, to be bold and exciting in our offer to business, and amplify to the world our Yorkshire identity as a fantastic place to live, work, start a business, have a family and grow old. 

Of course, rebuilding after this dreadful pandemic is going to be tough. Thousands have lost loved ones or have been ill themselves, too many businesses have gone bust, people have lost jobs and young people have been left feeling their lives have been derailed never to recover. But there is hope, and I know working with the excellent Labour leaders of Leeds, Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees and Wakefield councils, we can genuinely build back better.

I will put a fair recovery at the heart of everything we do: better transport, re-vitalising towns and re-industrialising our heartlands, a green economy and a Creative New Deal will sit alongside a focus on wellbeing, skills, sustainability for future generations and tackling the housing crisis. Police and crime powers will also transfer to the mayor in May. I’ll prioritise neighbourhood policing, tackling drug crime and anti-social behaviour. I want to couple that with an approach that puts the victim first and seek to tackle the underlying causes of crime. Early intervention is key.

With the North-South divide a reality, so too is the town-city divide, and my economic recovery plan will create jobs and opportunities for everyone, in our cities as well as our towns and villages. I am excited by the prospect.

I want to be a different kind of mayor. A mayor who rolls up their sleeves and campaigns alongside colleagues for fairness and inclusion. Who doesn’t sit in a glass office in County Hall. Who is a strong and powerful voice for my region, with the courage to speak truth to power.

To do that, we must work together to excite the public about the opportunities ahead. And a powerful part of that task is to listen. With that in mind, I will be establishing a West Yorkshire-wide backbench councillor committee, a youth council that works directly with the mayor’s office, regular outreach with Black, Asian and minority ethnic stakeholders, and town hall sessions with the public along with a co-operative development and community wealth building team, who’ll work directly with our small businesses, nurture entrepreneurs and help bring co-operative worker-owned businesses to our region, providing good jobs. 

But none of that will happen unless we win. We know that this will be a campaign like no other at a time like no other. Looking at other elections undertaken during lockdown, I’ve been inspired by the campaign that put Joe Biden in the White House, as well as online union campaigns such as CWU’s period poverty campaign and Unite and GMB’s fire and rehire strike campaign. 

As you’d expect, we’re running virtual phone banks, using Zoom as a virtual campaign office to recreate that brilliant community spirit you usually get from being part of a campaign team, with lots of friendly banter in the chat. But we must go further. Using data and tech, we’ll be reaching people through WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, email and direct messaging as well as the usual leaflet drops for those who aren’t online.

With only 14 weeks left, it’s going to be tough. But I know West Yorkshire can be among the stars once more – and I can’t wait to be the one to take us there.