Tracy Brabin: What will West Yorkshire mayor's priorities be?

Labour's Tracy Brabin has been elected as the first metro mayor of West Yorkshire.

Ms Brabin, currently the MP for Batley and Spen, won 60.1% of the popular vote after a run-off with the Conservative candidate when she failed to secure a majority in the first round of voting.

Her victory means people in Calderdale, Kirklees, Bradford, Wakefield and Leeds will be looking to her to improve their lives. So what has she got to do?

First on the agenda will be to quit her day job. As the mayoral role comes with the powers of the police and crime commissioner she is no longer allowed to be an MP.

That means there will be a by-election in her seat of Batley and Spen.

After what happened in Hartlepool there will be huge interest in another by-election in a Labour area and Tracy Brabin's majority there is just 3,525. I am told the Conservatives are already starting their campaign.

A priority for the new mayor will be sorting out transport.

If I could show you the Look North inbox, you'd see a lot of emails about transport. There are lots of people who want local transport to be better. Tracy Brabin's inbox is about to get these emails because she is now in charge.

She has already said she wants to bring buses back into public control, but it took Andy Burnham four years to get that sorted in Greater Manchester.

There is already £4.2bn ready for a tram system for West Yorkshire. Getting that right this time is key because West Yorkshire has failed badly at schemes like this before.

Plus, there are likely to be battles ahead on the high-speed HS2 rail link, with the government still waiting for that integrated review on what should happen next - with fears for the future of the proposed leg of that route up to Leeds.

The new West Yorkshire mayor role is a £1bn deal - the biggest devolution deal in the country. West Yorkshire say it is bigger than Manchester's, with £38m set to roll into the bank account every year which Tracy Brabin has to spend wisely.

The deal also means West Yorkshire now gets access to other pots of money like the Transforming Cities Fund. There's been some cross-Pennine jealousy as politicians here have watched Manchester buy new trams and Liverpool snap up a new Mersey ferry using the fund.

Allocating money to the right places and keeping every part of West Yorkshire happy is going to be a tricky balancing act.

It is not just about the power the mayor will wield, it is also a figurehead role. Tracy Brabin will be expected to stand up for West Yorkshire. That means holding the government to account.

The Conservatives have promised a lot to the North - making sure it's all delivered will be a key job.

Andy Burnham won his second mayoral election this weekend and said "don't give us devolution and be surprised if we answer you back".

There are now three Labour mayors along the M62 corridor of Liverpool, Manchester and Leeds - and another down the M1 in South Yorkshire. That block of Labour politicians representing over eight million people will be a force and it is going to be fascinating to see how they work together.

All politicians want to get re-elected, but most mayors who have been elected this year know party politics doesn't work that well at this level.

Conservative Andy Street in the West Midlands and Labour's Andy Burnham in Greater Manchester have all said that place is their priority - not necessarily the party they represent.

You could make a very strong case that that is why they got re-elected. People saw them achieving things and decided they liked it.

The same with Conservative mayor Ben Houchen in Tees Valley. It was a surprise he was elected in 2017, who got over 70% of the vote this year.

I am not sure everyone cares which rosette is worn anymore as long as the good stuff gets done.

Before this election the government took one of the big powers away from the West Yorkshire mayor. Tracy Brabin will not get planning powers as she might have expected.

The government wants to reform them nationally and the ability to make a strategic plan and raise an infrastructure tariff has been removed.

It will be given back when they have decided what the new system is but it raises an important point about power in general.

Is there enough of it in West Yorkshire? Some candidates think not and that much stronger legislation is needed.

The money is there to be spent, but ultimately much of it still comes from Westminster - the key difference is that West Yorkshire can decide how it is spent now. Money can be raised here as well under the new powers.

Devolution deals can be changed - Manchester's has been added to several times - how will West Yorkshire ask for more and will it be given?

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