The new West of England Mayor has said things will be “quite different” under her than under the previous Labour mayor.
Labour’s Helen Godwin was elected West of England Mayor last month. With 51,197 votes, she narrowly beat Reform UK’s Arron Banks who received 45,252 votes. Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service after the declaration of the results, Ms Godwin said: “It was always going to be close, we knew that.”
But she said she had been backed by a brilliant campaign: “We did what we needed to do so I am absolutely over the moon.”
However, the party’s share of the vote crashed from 33.4% in the last election in 2021 down to 25%, while Reform surged into second place. And in the City of Bristol, Labour only got about 2,500 more votes than the Greens. Despite the stark challenge, Ms Godwin said: “I don’t think we’re fighting on
two fronts.”
She said: “I don’t see it as a fight against Reform or the Greens — but I do see that we have got a progressive majority in our part of the world but there are obviously people that are unhappy today, who didn’t choose to vote for me that maybe might have done.
“So we’ve got to work with those but we’ve got to also get a place that feels like it works for everyone and that’s now my job.”
Ms Godwin said the first thing she would be doing as West of England Mayor would be looking at buses, as that was what everyone had asked her to look at. She said she would also be looking at getting new stations open, building homes in the right places, and improving links between education and industry to give young people “a clear pathway to their future careers”.
Asked how she would be different to the previous mayor, who was also Labour until he was suspended from the party, Ms Godwin said: “I am now the mayor so it’s going to be quite different. I can’t speak for what’s gone before, I know what I’m going to do. I know how I work. So it will feel very different but it will be very proactive: just getting stuff done, working with people, working with whoever I need to. And hopefully working at pace as well.”
The West of England Combined Authority (WECA) has only recently had the “best value notice” — put on it by the government partially due to poor relationships between political leaders — lifted. Speaking earlier at the count, Green leader of Bristol City Council Tony Dyer said: “It’s important that whoever the new combined authority mayor is … there is a need for them to recognise the progress that has been made.”
The metro mayor heads WECA which is responsible for improving transport across Bristol, Bath and North East Somerset, and South Gloucestershire and attracting and delivering major investment. A major part of the role is working with the leaders of each council as the WECA committee.
Addressing the count after the results were declared, Ms Godwin said: “It genuinely is the honour of my life to be your new West of England Mayor.”
She said: “I will be a mayor who prioritises place over party. To those who didn’t vote for me — there’s quite a few — I hear you, too. My door will always be open and I will work just as hard to represent your interests and address your concerns.”
But her win came amid a night of sweeping gains for Nigel Farage’s Reform UK, who have won the Runcorn byelection, and the Greater Lincolnshire Mayor. Arron Banks, the Reform candidate for the West of England, said: “There is a tidal wave going on in the UK at the moment. We have seen Reform victory after Reform victory.”
Despite losing to Ms Godwin, Mr Banks described Reform’s performance in the West of England as “pretty epic.” He said: “Bristol and Bath should not be natural Reform territory and we aced it. The Greens will be disappointed they didn’t win but it was a good result for us.”
The Greens hoped to ride a wave of recent electoral success in Bristol, where last year the Green Party won the council and its co-leader Carla Denyer won Bristol Central in the general election. Although the Greens were only about 2,500 votes behind Labour in Bristol itself, the party came third overall with 41,094 votes.
Green Party candidate Mary Page said: “In Bristol we came second. I am absolutely stoked by that. Our campaign was run on a shoestring. It was pulled together last minute because I had to be that replacement candidate and needs must and I stepped up.”
She said: “In 2027, South Gloucestershire and Bath have both got elections and in 2028 Bristol has. So Labour and Reform, we are not going anywhere.”
Following meetings with the leaders of Bath & North East Somerset, Bristol, and South Gloucestershire councils, Helen has since announced her first Deputy Mayor. Cllr Kevin Guy, the Leader of Bath & North East Somerset Council, will take up the position. Vacant since 2021, the role will now rotate each year between the leaders of the local councils.
By John Wimperis, Local Democracy Reporter