The Conservatives have selected the party’s candidate to run to be the first mayor of Sussex.
Katy Bourne, 60, was chosen this afternoon (Thursday 31 July), seeing off three challengers – the former East Worthing and Shoreham MP Tim Loughton, 63, the former Hastings and Rye MP Sally-Ann Hart, 57, and 65-year-old Paul Marshall, the leader of West Sussex County Council.
Mrs Bourne currently serves as the Sussex police and crime commissioner, having won the election for the role four times.
She said: “I am absolutely delighted to have been selected as the Conservative candidate for the first mayor of Sussex.
“I’d like to thank everyone who voted for me and assure Conservative members across our beautiful county that I will work hard for you all and do my utmost to make you proud.
“It’s been a long campaign and I’d like to thank Paul, Sally-Ann and Tim for stepping forwards. I wish them every success for the future.
“I am absolutely delighted to have been selected as the Conservative candidate for the first Mayor of Sussex. I’d like to thank everyone who voted for me and assure Conservative members across our beautiful county that I will work hard for you all and do my utmost to make you… pic.twitter.com/vykS0zBHAc
— Katy Bourne OBE (@KatyBourne) July 31, 2025
“I’d also like to thank my amazing team of volunteers and activists – none of this would be possible without you.
“For now, my work as police and crime commissioner continues and I look forward to the mayoral campaign ahead and securing the very best deal for Sussex.”
The new mayor of Sussex is expected to have responsibility for policing, effectively taking over the police and crime commissioner’s duties.
Mrs Bourne said that she would have six priorities as mayor.
- Sussex homes – building the right homes in the right places with the right infrastructure.
- Get Sussex moving – with roads that work, not more road works.
- Grow Sussex – with innovation and investment.
- Sussex skills – with education to unlock doors and skills to open them.
- Safer in Sussex – more police, out on the streets, solving more crime.
- Healthy Sussex – promoting public health as a shared responsibility.
The first election is due to take place in May next year.
Mrs Bourne said that she had won Sussex-wide elections to be the police and crime commissioner four times – from the first PCC election in 2012.
She won again in 2016, 2021 and last year when the poll was held just weeks before Labour swept to victory at the general election.
So far, her only serious rival appears to be Daniel Yates, 52, the former Labour leader of Brighton and Hove City Council.
Mr Yates, who works in the NHs in Sussex, has also served as a councillor on Adur District Council and as a member of the Greater Brighton Economic Board and the Coast to Capital Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP).
It has not worked in London, Khan has destroyed it and made London a no go area.
How has he “destroyed” London?
Please give proper explanations and reasons.
I wen’t to London a few weeks back, i was a victim of verbal homophobic comments twice both by asian men. Knife crime is up 58% in just one year, If you get your phone out of your pocket its likely it will be robbed. People just like in Brighton are riding around on electric bikes that are virtually motor bikes with full face coverings up to no good. Political Mayors are not working they just go power mad instead of delivering for the people.
What, all of London? One person made an entire city a no-go area?!
Odd, I went to London last week. Didn’t appear to be a no-go area…
Vote reform
Why?
What will Reform have to offer the electorate in terms of policies related to this post?
You are just left wing the reason REFORM will be the next government as the Tories and Labour are much the same. I will be voting REFORM.
You’ll be telling us Nigel and his fellow travellers are not a bunch of rich, proto-fascist frauds next.
That’s still not a reason to vote reform
Tell me why people should vote for reform. Petty insults aren’t reasons,
I’m genuinely curious why someone would vote Reform, what is it about them that appeals?
A lot of reform votes will not be for them but will be against the other parties. Labour got elected with a large majority with an anti-Tory vote. By the time of the next election, the Tory brand will still be trashed. Labour has had a dire first year and that is before strikes and lack of delivery on housing, immigration etc over the next few years. Voting against Tories and Labour has been well documented by pollsters. So where will these disillusioned votes go? Some to the far left – the new party and greens. But likely most to reform as they are broadening from the right to other central and some left policies. They don’t fit the traditional left/right. But, more importantly, Tories failed, Labour failed, so give someone else (reform) a chance.
Maybe one day we’ll have a party that we can positively vote for that we think can deliver (plenty of options for positive protest votes, but none I’d trust to run the country!)
There’s definitely going to be sentiment like that out there, I agree. I think it’s important to draw a line between protest and power. Reform may capture a mood, but they’ve yet to show they have the depth, infrastructure, or competence to actually govern – some would argue the opposite.
After 14 years of systemic underfunding, any party next in line was going to receive a lot of flak, and on some policies, they’ve really not helped themselves. Reform’s policies often sound bold, but on closer inspection, many are either uncosted, contradictory, or based on misinformation, particularly on immigration and climate. That matters if we’re talking about serious alternatives.
You’re right to say people want a party they can vote for positively. But I’d argue that giving space to parties who thrive on anger without offering workable solutions risks setting us back further, not moving us forward.
I just think we need to be careful not to mistake volume or visibility for viability.
…and get a free black shirt?
Well done Katy Bourne
Why, what has she done?
It was perhaps interesting that Katy Bourne had her campaign for Tory selection broadcast all over facebook and someone paid for that.
All dissenting comments were quickly removed from that facebook advert – including mine.
I can’t think of anyone worse for the job, but it’s also worrying to see who actually might end up as mayor for our region – given that the broad voting base for a future mayor certainly won’t reflect the values we hold dear in Brighton and Hove.
Oh, absolutely, the social media warfare is a very curated experience. I was reading how other parties go into Facebook groups just to affect the algorithm. Doesn’t matter if people agree or not. The best thing to do to protect your post is to delete comments.
I’m not a fan of social media for that reason, amongst others.
The assumption is that anyone wants a Mayor of Sussex.
To date, I know of no one who does, except those few individuals it would benefit.
Furthermore, none of us have been asked and there has been no public referendum,
which there needs to be on a subject affecting a WHOLE county and its services and running!
Sussex-wide council tax strike needed until we get a fair say.
No, there is no assumption here. There have been several consultations on the matter. It was also a manifesto item in the last several general elections, in which Labour was voted in. You really should read into it more carefully, Elaine.
All across the country these regions / metro mayors have been put in place without any referenda.
Blame the Tories as they were the ones who put in place the legislation to enable them to do that. Labour are using the same law.
The only regional Mayor that was created via a referendum was London following the 1998 vote.
There were no votes in the likes of the Tees Valley, Greater Manchester and Merseyside so why should Sussex be different to the rest of the country?
Indeed. The only exception was London, which held a referendum in 1998 as part of a broader constitutional reform package that included the Greater London Authority. In that sense, Sussex wouldn’t be treated differently – it would be treated exactly the same.
It’s also worth noting that Labour’s 2024 manifesto explicitly committed to expanding devolution, including “devolving powers over transport, adult education and housing to new combined authorities.” So while there isn’t a local referendum, there has been a national democratic mandate behind the direction of travel.
People may disagree with the model or want more consultation on the specifics, which is fair, but the idea that this is being done “without consent” isn’t quite accurate, as is commonly portrayed by some.
Makes sense that Katy was selected. I don’t think the cons have anyone else who is remotely qualified.
We had 4 very strong candidates shortlisted & they all presented well at a packed hustings in Hove that I attended. If we have to have a Mayor, I believe it will be difficult to find a more fitting, known & representative individual to represent Sussex than Katy Bourne.
Appreciate the context, Ivan. My point was more about the current Conservative field; from the outside, doesn’t appear to have much depth beyond Katy Bourne. That said, I agree she’s the strongest candidate the Conservatives could put forward, given her profile and incumbency. It’s also a very low-risk move for her politically, since she keeps her PCC role if she doesn’t win.
I’m also glad you spoke up, because it gives us a chance to revisit your earlier concerns about the cost of by-elections. If Katy were to win, it would trigger a Sussex PCC by-election, one estimated to cost the public at least £800,000 to £1,200,000. That’s not a resignation over principle or public service; it’s a by-election purely for personal political advancement.
By your own standards, that’s a steep price for ambition.
Isn’t the PCC role to be rolled in the mayoral one? London has no PCC, as the mayor does it.
That’s the expected direction for Sussex, as I understand it. Although the PCC role will not automatically merge into the mayoralty unless that’s explicitly agreed in the devolution deal. It’s one of the reasons why I’m always saying the details really matter!
Unless the deal specifically includes that transfer and the timetable aligns, the PCC will remain a separate elected role until the transfer legally takes place, and Sussex would still be on the hook for a PCC by-election in the meantime. That’s the point I was making: if the mayoral role isn’t yet live and we get a mid-term PCC vacancy, the public foots a costly bill to cover the interim.
I can’t understand why she was picked over Tim Loughton, a good constituency MP for 25 years or so. Or is it because he was critical of Boris Bunter
My sources also suggest it may be because of the PCC role itself.
Never understood the need for PCC and have never cast a vote. Likewise the need for a Mayor escapes me.
As for Bourne, my limited contact with her was unsatisfactory and so me voting Tory and Bourne is never happening.
Under devolution, they hold real powers over things like transport, housing, skills, economic investment, and sometimes even health and policing strategy.
Right now, those decisions are often made by the central government or split across various councils with limited coordination. A directly elected mayor brings accountability to those big regional decisions, with proper scrutiny structures built in. Instead of Whitehall deciding for us, it puts power closer to the peopl, if we engage with it.
That doesn’t mean everyone has to love the idea. But if the powers are coming either way, I’d rather they’re overseen by someone we can vote in or out, not a civil servant or distant board.
The consultation responses showed that 66% percent of respondents from the general public (as opposed to interested parties) did not want a Sussex mayor. But on we plough, regardless.
If Katy Bourne gets in we can look forward to her largely ignoring Brighton and Hove, just as she has as PCC, because she knows most people in the city don’t vote Conservative.
It could be worse though – it could be Reform. It’s understandable that people are fed up with the Tories and Labour (me too), and it’s been said (with some justification) that both those parties are effectively offering nothing more than managed decline.
But what Reform offer is effectively UNmanaged decline and policies to please the super-rich, and screw everyone else. There is bad, and there is worse. And Reform are worse.
Something that will be interesting is that this is the first election Katy will be in since the Cons lost power.
Reform for mayor, Reform for Queens Park by-election, Reform for a better Brighton and a better Britain. The 2 party system is dead, time for change