East Midlands Mayor warns new Reform leaders to put region ahead of politics

Claire Ward told an East Midlands Combined County Authority (EMCCA) board meeting in Derby that all members should put the region as the number one priority when it comes to decision making and not play party politics.

The meeting on Monday, June 16, at Derby County’s Pride Park Stadium saw the regional authority welcome new Reform board members to the table following dramatic local election results across the region.

Alan Graves is now on the EMCCA board after being elected the new Derbyshire County Council leader and is joined by the county council’s new deputy leader, Robert Reaney.

There was big change in Nottinghamshire too with the new county council leadership also sworn to the EMCCA board table. Reform duo Nottinghamshire County Council leader Mick Barton and its deputy leader, John Doddy, are now EMCCA board members.

Many people may recall Coun Graves was in the running to be East Midlands Mayor when the first ever Mayorship contest of the authority went to the polls last year.

Coun Graves said during his campaign he would look at “abolishing” the Mayor position if he got the top job and expressed disappointment the public had no say in the creation of the combined authority.

Those comments were put to Ms Ward after she chaired the first board meeting since the local elections. She was asked if having Reform members would be a distraction for her as East Midlands Mayor and her objectives for the region.

Ms Ward responded: “No (it’s not a distraction) because I respect democracy. The people made their decision and voted for Reform councillors in our constituent councils in the election. And what they expect is that we work together – that is the purpose of the combined authority.

“If you remember, I had Conservatives representing both of those counties, and we worked together because it is about place more than about the party. I will always put the East Midlands before party politics and I expect that from everyone else too.”

Ms Ward told the meeting she was pushing the Government hard for more funding and spending power to lift the East Midlands.

She said after the meeting: “The way combined authorities are funded at the moment is there are lots of different pots of money and they all come with restrictions and certain requirements. If you get into ‘integrated settlement’ you get a much longer period of time (to spend it) and fewer pots with fewer restrictions on it.

“Combined authorities in Manchester and the West Midlands have already got into that stage and the Chancellor announced there will be another round next year where other combined authorities will move into it. We are not into it yet because there was a requirement we had to be at least 18 months old before we applied and we also have to meet some governance requirements.

“I feel confident we will be able to meet those governance requirements. I’m going to keep pushing. This would be a really good thing for us to get and it would show greater levels of confidence in the region.”