Ben Bradley launches campaign to be East Midlands mayor
Ben Bradley, the MP for Mansfield and leader of Nottinghamshire County Council, has revealed that he will stand for the Conservative nomination for the newly-created East Midlands mayor.
Bradley, who has spoken at TheBusinessDesk.com events over the past year and has made no secret of his desire to land the job.
Bradley revealed the move in a column in the Daily Telegraph – which intriguingly describes him as the “former” leader of Nottinghamshire County Council – and appears to be basing his campaign around scraping Ultra low emission zones (ULEZ), which he says is charging people for going to work and keeping the poorest off the roads.
Bradley said, in a series of Tweets: “This is a huge opportunity for our region to draw in billions of additional investment, create new employment and training opportunities for local people, and improve infrastructure across the whole of Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire.
“Local leaders have been trying to make this happen for a decade, without success. I’ve been the one to finally secure this funding for the East Midlands, and to get it done. I’ve delivered billions of future investment for our communities, and I can deliver again as Mayor.”
Bradley has received the backing of 14 East Midlands MPs, including the controversial Brendan Clarke-Smith, Tory MP for Bassetlaw.
He said: “Ben would make an outstanding mayor and would stop ULEZ-style schemes being introduced in the East Midlands. I’ve also seen first-hand the amount of extra investment he has helped secure in Nottinghamshire. That’s why I’m backing Ben.”
The new mayor will front the East Midlands Combined Authority in a devolution deal worth £1.14bn over 30 years.
