Rarely can a year be as potentially politically seismic for the Midlands as 2024. This year we will see Mayors, Members of Parliament, Councillors and Police & Crime Commissioners all up for election.
In the East Midlands we will have our first directly elected mayor covering Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire. This high profile battle will see the many hatted Conservative MP for Mansfield and Leader of Nottinghamshire Council, Ben Bradley take on Claire Ward, former Labour MP for Watford and NHS Director. This will be a fascinating contest that will have far reaching consequences for the emergence of this new combined authority.
The much more mature West Midlands Combined Authority will see its third mayoral election. Well known Conservative incumbent Andy Street will be taking on newcomer Richard Parker, who is standing for Labour following a successful business career. After previously selecting two MPs, Sion Simon and Liam Byrne, Labour will be hoping that a change of approach will yield better results this time round. This role has become even more important as the government is pushing forward with its plan to abolish the Police & Crime Commissioner role in the West Midlands and hand those powers over to the mayor. Furthermore, the mayor will preside over one of only two ‘trail blazer’ authorities in the country with additional powers and resources over areas including housing and transport.
Key councils up for grabs this time round include Dudley (where every councillor will be elected rather than one third as normal), Solihull and Walsall. Inevitably these results will be taken as an indicator for the general election, unless of course it’s held on the same day, in which case it is unlikely to be at the forefront of people’s minds.
Speaking of the general election…… The Midlands will be a critical battleground in 2024 as it is crammed full of marginal seats from Stoke to Worcester and from Shrewsbury to Lincoln. Almost every corner of the region will see crucial Labour versus Conservative battles. The list of seats that the polls suggest will change hands or be very close calls runs into the dozens. Labour will look to secure single town/city constituencies like Tamworth, Worcester, Shrewsbury and Lincoln alongwith so called ‘Red Wall’ seats like the three up for grab in Stoke-on-Trent, Nuneaton and Ashfield. They will alsowant to hoover up seats in urban areas like Dudley, Derby and Northampton. It is likely that Keir Starmer’s hopes of becoming Prime Minister will depend on us Midlanders.
And just in case you get bored waiting for the impending general election we also have an upcoming by-election in Wellingborough where veteran Tory Peter Bone has been forcibly removed from office.
Away from elections, local councils including Birmingham and Nottingham face deep cuts in order to restore their financial stability. A tougher than expected funding round from the government has added to the pressures facing councils. If you would like to discuss the implications of these upcoming events for your business then please contact our Midlands team via the contact form below.
