Notts MP named as Tory choice for East Midlands mayor

Mansfield MP and leader of Nottinghamshire County Council, Ben Bradley, has been selected as the Conservative candidate for the Mayor of the East Midlands.

Bradley joins Labour’s Claire Ward for Labour and independent Matthew Relf in the race to become the East Midlands’ first elected mayor.

The new mayor will front the East Midlands Combined Authority in a devolution deal worth £1.14bn over 30 years.

In a statement, Bradley said: “This role, and the Combined Authority that the Mayor will lead, comes with billions in additional investment for our part of the world, and a huge opportunity for us to make meaningful changes to local jobs, skills, infrastructure, housing and more.

Unlike any other candidate, this whole region is my home. I grew up in North Derbyshire, went to school in Derby, university in Nottingham and live in North Notts. I’ve spent my whole life in these communities and it would be an absolute honour to be able to translate the successes we have and are achieving in Mansfield and in Nottinghamshire through my current work into something even bigger for the whole of our region.”

The East Midlands mayoral elections takes place in May next year.