News / Politics
Rees endorses Godwin as Labour candidate for metro mayor
Marvin Rees has endorsed Helen Godwin as Labour’s candidate for metro mayor of the West of England.
Godwin was a member of Rees’ cabinet during his time as mayor alongside two other challengers for Labour’s official nomination: Nicola Beech and Tom Renhard.
Rees’ endorsement of Godwin came in a video posted on Instagram from the Urban Transformation Summit in San Francisco where he was receiving an award on behalf of Bristol City Leap from the World Economic Forum.
is needed now More than ever
View this post on Instagram
The video was only the second time that Rees has posted to Instagram since leaving City Hall in May.
He said: “I just had to take time out just to share my joy that Helen Godwin has put herself forward to become the Labour candidate for metro mayor.
“In a room like this with all these incredible people… from all across the world, this is the kind of place that Helen belongs.
“I had her in my cabinet, she is an outstanding human being, phenomenally skilful, emotionally intelligent and – as I keep stressing, a really important quality in politics – she is trustworthy and I think she would do the West of England proud.
“So I’m full force behind Helen as someone who i think could really unlock the offer that is the West of England.
“And that is both for the people that live there but it’s also because of the contribution that the West of England can make to our national missions, our national challenges and the global challenges particularly around climate change and how we do inclusive economic growth.
“Go Helen Godwin!”
Three members of Marvin Rees’ cabinet from 2021 are running against each other to be Labour’s candidate for metro mayor: Tom Renhard, back row second from left; Helen Godwin, back row second from right; and Nicola Beech, back row right – photo: Bristol City Council
Despite Rees having a rather frosty relationship with the current Labour metro mayor, Dan Norris, there has recently been somewhat of a revolving door between City Hall and the West of England Combined Authority – or as Norris insists on wrongly calling it, the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority.
Previous chief executive of Bristol City Council, Stephen Peacock, is currently chief executive of WECA.
And other staff previously close to Rees have also worked at WECA, which is likely to have increased prominence under the new Labour government’s Council of the Nations and Regions.
Main photo: Bristol City Council
Read next:
Our top newsletters emailed directly to you
