Your say / Politics
‘We have the talents to make Bristol a better place, they are just not running for election’
I’m not waiting for Reform to find a candidate. I’m calling it now. The West of England mayoral election in May will be another waste of time.
It’s not even the candidates’ fault. The winner, who could play a pivotal role in making the region a better place to live and work in, hasn’t a hope of leading us to the front of the queue for investment from Whitehall.
In fact, we can’t even join the queue.
is needed now More than ever
Since March 2024, the West of England Combined Authority under mayor Dan Norris has been in special measures. And that won’t end until the autumn at the earliest.
That could mean another 18 months before any mayor can apply for extra powers of devolution, which takes us to the spring of 2027.
Which is bad news for a body that oversees transport and strategic planning as well as employment and skills, culture, and climate. It needs to attract more cash from London to expand the local economy.
Our new mayor needs to “get the West of England back on the national map”. Not my words, but those of Bristol North West MP Darren Jones in support of Labour’s candidate, Helen Godwin. He obviously didn’t think much of his fellow MP Dan Norris.
I won’t pass comment on individual candidates (I know one of them) but they are the third reserves. I am sure they are all very nice people, kind to children and animals and so on.
But you could not put them up against mayors such as Greater Manchester’s Andy Burnham or Andy Street, formerly of the West Midlands.
We like to boast of our own region’s superpowers. We excel in creativity, technology and entrepreneurship. But do any of the candidates in May’s election have a serious track record in these fields?
We could blame the political parties for this state of affairs. (And I do.) We could blame the business lobby. We could even blame the media; why not?
But we could also try to find a better way. A thought occurred to me last week after hearing an inspiring social entrepreneur explain how he achieved his vision: don’t we have plenty of high achievers who could put us on Darren Jones’ map?
Here’s a few names to start with. Yes, I am friendly with all of them. Although that may change when they read this.
Nick Hounsfield
Nick Hounsfield – photo: The Wave
That inspiring speaker was Nick Hounsfield, founder of The Wave, the inland surfing lagoon at Easter Compton. He raised £30m to build his dream that everyone can benefit from being in water. Despite suffering multiple strokes and losing (and regaining) his ability to speak along the way, Hounsfield has proved can make things happen.
Zara Nanu
Zara-Nanu – photo: Barbara Evripidou
Zara Nanu, who after a PhD in politics at UWE, became so fascinated by how pay gaps hold back women and minorities that she created a software developer, Gapsquare, to help big organisations kick out the bias. What’s more, Nanu, who bootstrapped her business, then sold it to a FTSE 50 data giant. Nanu wanted to solve a problem to improve society and, without a tech background, developed the technology to do it.
Ajith Jayawickrema
Ajith Jayawickrema – photo: Ellie Pipe
Most people know Ajith Jayawickrema’s restaurants, even if they haven’t heard of the man who arrived from Sri Lanka aged 15 without a word of English. Jayawickrema started his Latin American-themed Las Iguanas chain on St Nicholas Street in Bristol in 1991; it had 41 sites when it was sold for £85m in 2015. He switched to Caribbean food with Turtle Bay in 2010. Now there are more than 50 outlets. He’s a master of detail and a calming influence in a fraught industry.
Nick Sturge
Nick Sturge – photo: Engine Shed
No conversation about tech in Bristol takes place without mention of Nick Sturge. He floated a tech company on the London Stock Exchange at the age of 29. But he is best known for putting Engine Shed next to Temple Meads on the global map as a tech incubator. As used to dealing with big institutions as random entrepreneurs, Sturge now chairs the TechSPARK network among a host of portfolio roles.
Sandy Ruthven
Sandy Ruthen – photo: Jon Craig
Sandy Ruthven has previously run to become a mayor. But it was Bristol in 2021 as Green Party candidate that he gave Marvin Rees a run for his money. Over 14 years, Ruthven built the UK’s largest youth hub, Creative Youth Network, from scratch, helping to reduce youth offending. Ruthven now serves as chief executive of Severn Wye Energy, fighting fuel poverty, and as a director of Friends of the Earth.
Johnny Palmer
Johnny Palmer – photo: Pytch
An activist-entrepreneur, Johnny Palmer made a splash by embarrassing Bristol City Council into allowing swimming in the harbour through concerted lobbying and unauthorised group dips. Before that he founded the Warleigh Weir Project, a social enterprise that allows the public to enjoy the weir’s benefits on the outskirts of Bath. Palmer recently sold his events company, Pytch, to focus on his commercial property interests and to help other entrepreneurs prosper.
Anna Rutherford
Anna Rutherford – photo: Design West
Anna Rutherford, chief executive at placemaking charity, Design West, was recently appointed to co-chair Bristol’s culture board. She turned the moribund Architecture Centre into a well-capitalised social enterprise focused on education, events and trying to raise design standards across the region. A biochemistry PhD, Rutherford is also the force of nature behind the successful Bristol Folk Festival and Indigo Network, the largest network for lesbian and LGBTQ+ people in the UK; and she helped to found Bristol Pride.
Log-rolling over. Half a dozen people with drive, vision, and the ability to work with institutions and human beings – and not one of them is running.
That’s why I think May’s West of England mayoral election will fail to bring out the best in the region.
This is an opinion piece by Andrew Lynch, a freelance journalist based in Bristol
Main photo: Martin Booth
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