Former Brighton and Hove City Council leader Dan Yates has announced his intention to run to be the first mayor Sussex.
Mr Yates, 52, an NHS physiotherapist, was a key figure in the Labour administration from 2015 to 2020 and served as leader of the council from 2018 to 2019.
He was the first council leader in Brighton and Hove to see his party re-elected for the best part of 20 years. He had previously served as a member of Adur District Council.
Today (Sunday 6 April), he said: “The creation of a mayor for Sussex is a turning point. It is a real chance to change our future for the better.
“I believe that a new mayor could deliver the economic growth and investment we need to make our historic county thrive. We have to grasp this opportunity with open arms – we need the right person for the job.
“That’s why I’m confirming today my intention to seek Labour’s nomination as candidate for the Sussex mayor in 2026.
“I’ve lived in Sussex for over 30 years and have made it my home. I’ve built my family and my career here and I have lived in both East and West Sussex.
“I have been an NHS physiotherapist for 30 years and I have worked in Chichester, Littlehampton, Worthing, Shoreham, Brighton, Eastbourne and Haywards Heath.
“I have served local people as a parish, district and city councillor, as well as previously being the leader of Brighton and Hove City Council.
“But I am not a career politician. Fundamentally, I am just a local resident whose passion is improving outcomes for our local communities.
“For too long, Sussex has suffered from a lack of focus, a lack of ambition and underinvestment that has seen people in communities across Sussex cut off from the opportunities that other parts of the country benefit from.
“Having a mayor from 2026 means greater powers and long-term investment can be brought back into Sussex from London. I want more decisions about Sussex to be made in Sussex.
“My priorities as mayor would be
“Getting Sussex moving – I want Sussex to have a single Sussex Bus Network that connects people and communities to the places they need to go at the times they need to get there. Serving all our communities and putting Sussex needs ahead of shareholders profits.
“Building thriving communities – I want Sussex to break the housing development stalemate and end our housing crisis. We need to double our current home building rate and build proper communities with the schools, GP surgeries and community facilities for people to build their lives.
“Growing Sussex’s economy – I want us all to benefit from the potential of growth in every corner of our county and have access to well-paid secure jobs for us, our families and friends. Without strong local businesses across our county then jobs and opportunity cannot be delivered.
“Skills and training for life – I want our post-16 education system to give back the chance for people to learn trades and careers that gives them the satisfaction and opportunities that exists elsewhere in the country.
“A safer Sussex – I want people to feel that the police are present in our communities and that our communities are strong and well supported – we must turn around the current failures of the Tory police commissioner and make us all proud of Sussex Police once again.
“Protecting Sussex’s environment – Sussex has a great and diverse environment with important national and international habitats. I want to see these protected and improved while we also tackle the climate crisis through investing in active travel, better transport connections and reducing the carbon footprint of our homes, businesses and communities.
“One of my first actions as mayor will be to negotiate a long-term investment fund from the government and bring on board a range of experts and business owners to make sure that long-term decisions are taken in the best interests of us, the people of Sussex.
“I have the skills, experience and passion to deliver for Sussex and that’s why I have decided that once Labour commences its selection process, I am going the seek its nomination.
“I hope that you will want to be part of that and support me – we can all make a difference and make a Sussex we are proud of for the future.”
Is this the same Dan Yates who made decisions at the 2019 meeting about the Gerry Doherty report about behavioural issues at the Cityclean depot referred to here: https://www.brightonandhovenews.org/2024/04/25/councillors-gave-jobs-back-to-three-workers-sacked-by-managers/
Labour have gone quiet on the Cityclean report. I thought some GMB officials would be held to account .
If I remember correctly he was no longer leader by that stage.
The KC report says that “I have been provided with evidence which suggests that, by 2017, bullying behaviours had become normalised at City Clean”, and Dan Yates was a key councillor between 2015-2020, including being Leader for several years, so although he had left the council by the time the 2023 report was published, he was a serving councillor, and Leader, for quite a good chunk of the time the report covered.
He was also a councillor when the 2019 Gerry Doherty report happened, and he did attend and discuss the report at the ‘secret meeting’ referred to in previous B&H News articles that discussed the report.
The KC report also refers to “close links” between the Labour administration in 2019 and the GMB, the year the Gerry Doherty report was undertaken and things were quite unsettled at City Clean. For anyone interested the full 2023 KC report can be found here: https://www.11kbw.com/content/uploads/McColgan-Brighton-report.pdf. It makes shocking and uncomfortable reading.
IMO this is a stupid Labour policy . Sussex is a Tory county, Katy Bourne ( who?) Gets elected PCC every time and no one knows who she is or what she does. The other parties hardly bother to campaign.
Why will a Mayor be any different?
Exactly. What are they playing at?!
Wind your neck in Dan. No one wants a Sussex Mayor.
No more,nobodies required,what we have at the moment is next to useless (k,bourne) more than! What’s needed is a working community committee made up of real peopl
Who wants a narcissist as mayor?
It’s hilariously obvious this publicity video has been heavily photoshopped.
I wondered if there was a filter on it too!
He stilll doesn’t look like a well man either, having previously stood down as council leader owing to ill health in 2019, only three days after being elected.
No more new Labour careerists please
https://consult.communities.gov.uk/lggc/sussex-and-brighton-devolution-consultation/
Please fill in the consultation here, which closes next Sunday (whatever your views are on this – this is democracy, or supposed to be).
I’m not optimistic about how much difference it will make but I just pointed out that the effect of this will be to entrench a Sussex-wide centre right (or even hard right) majority, which is not the way that Brighton and Hove votes. Having the wretched Katy Bourne as PCC ought to act as a warning here – our policing needs as a city are routinely marginalised because there are relatively view votes in it for her.
One way to mitigate that would be to elect the mayor by a preferential voting system where voters number candidates. That would reduce the chance of a complete nutcase getting the job, but I wouldn’t want to bet on the current government going for it, because they seem to hate electoral reform.
It’s enough to make you put your head in your hands. With all that’s going on the moment, the government sinks its efforts (and our money) into a completely half-arsed local government reform, the only goal of which seems to be save piffling amounts of money by amalgamating services.
As for Dan, he’s dreaming. No Labour candidate is going to get this job. Not this time round, and probably not ever.
Elected Mayors used to be voted in via preferential vote but the Tories ended that. Ironically it was Tories over turning their own policy on this.
If they hadn’t it’s likely Karie Bourne would have lost her post as Police & Crime Commissioner last year.
But the Tories created lots of Metro Mayors in Labour areas (like Manchester and Merseyside) so that sort of calculation shouldn’t come into it.
Mayoral elections were originally supplementary vote (SV) meaning voters got a first and a second choice. Pretty sure that was a Labour policy that the Tories initially continued and got rid of while the ineffable Priti Patel was home sec.
SV puts more power in the hands of the voters but not as much as a full preferential system.
If you are going to have a mayor (I am not in favour and I can’t see much public demand for it down here) then you need to at least make sure that such a powerful figure is a fairly consensual figure who commands wide support. Preferential voting would help to do that. Under First Past the Post some barm cake or extremist could get in on well under 30% of the vote.
True about the Tories enshrining Metro mayors in what were hitherto Labour areas (though they won and have held Teesside). Perhaps Sussex is the payback, and this is part of the old pals act that those two parties sometimes engage in, all in the interest of excluding everybody else?