With less than one week to go before the people of Hull and East Yorkshire elect their first-ever Mayor, five of the six candidates attended a heated Hull Live election debate in which they debated topics including Net Zero policies and what the person elected will be able to do.
All six candidates were invited to the event hosted by Reach PLC's Northern Agenda Editor, Rob Parsons. Unfortunately Kerry Harrison, the Green Party candidate, was unable to attend, meaning the line up was as follows:
Reform UK: Luke Campbell
- Yorkshire Party: Rowan Halstead
Conservative Party: Anne Handley
- Labour Party: Margaret Pinder
- Liberal Democrat : Mike Ross
They clashed on a number of issues including on Net Zero policy and on what the Mayor will and can actually do. Some of the candidates focused on Mr Campbell's political inexperience during the debate. The former boxer, who won Olympic Gold in 2012, was announced as Reform UK's candidate in February and previously told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that his move into politics happened very quickly after a discussion he had with some friends over breakfast when the new Mayoral position came up in conversation.
The first hot point in the debate occurred when Mr Campbell said his main priority as Mayor would be to "cut council waste". The leaders of both Hull City Council, Mike Ross, and East Riding Council, Anne Handley, were quick to tell Mr Campbell that it will not be the Mayor's job to control council spending.
Ms Handley said that as Mayor "you cannot hold the councils to account, that is not what your job is". To which Mr Campbell said "that's nonsense". While Mr Ross said that he is "really pleased that Luke has this interest in council spending" he suggested that Mr Campbell would be better off applying for a role in the council's Audit Committee rather than running for Mayor.
You can hear how each candidate answered every question on the Northern Agenda podcast's special Hull and East Yorkshire Mayoral Hustings episode below ...
The biggest clash of the debate occurred during a discussion about how much of a priority achieving Net Zero would be for the candidates. They all agreed that the region is already a world leader on green energy and the industry offers a great opportunity to provide jobs within the area. Despite being "all for it" if it creates jobs, Mr Campbell added that he believes Net Zero is "not achievable". Ms Pinder stated that the party he is standing for is against Net Zero policies, and said he "can't have it both ways", adding: "You're trying to but you can't."
Mr Campbell said that, if he is elected, he will represent the people of the region rather focussing on party politics, to which Mr Ross asked him "so you disagree with Nigel [Farage]?" Mr Campbell said: "It's not up to me whether I agree with that."
Ms Pinder added: "We can't have that level of political naivety sitting in the Mayoral office."
The candidates also discussed the importance of the region getting a Mayor and Combined Authority. The leaders of both councils said that they have seen how the region has missed out by not having a devolved body in recent years. Ms Pinder added that devolution can be seen to have worked in other parts on the country where Mayors have delivered for their regions.
The Yorkshire Party candidate, Mr Halstead, explained that he would solely act in the interest of the region and not be swayed by national party politics. He sat out much of the heated moments where the Lib Dem, Labour, and Conservative candidates targeted Mr Campbell's political inexperience.
One of the biggest issues for Mayors across the country has tended to be transport. All the candidates said they would seek to improve the transport links within the region and make transportation work for the people.
Mr Halstead raised a policy idea to provide free transportation to people attending events such as gigs in the region through a QR code system. A number of candidates mentioned the franchising of buses. While agreeing to the principle of franchising, Mr Ross told candidates that it would be a long-term process and that work would have to be done with service providers in the meantime.
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