Tracy Brabin: 'Enormous privilege' to be first female metro mayor

The newly-elected mayor of West Yorkshire says it is an "enormous privilege" to be the first woman in the country to become a metro mayor.

Tracy Brabin said bringing a woman's voice to the table of metro mayors was a "great moment in our history".

Ms Brabin has stepped down as Labour MP for Batley and Spen after winning the post of West Yorkshire mayor with 60.1% of the vote.

She said it was a "really great step" for West Yorkshire.

"All the other metro mayors in the country are men and it's important to have a woman's voice around that table, and more importantly, a Yorkshirewoman's voice," she said.

"The first ever woman metro mayor in the country, what an enormous privilege."

Ms Brabin, who was 60 on Sunday, replaced Jo Cox as Batley and Spen MP in a by-election in 2016 after Ms Cox was murdered by Thomas Mair.

As the new West Yorkshire mayor role encompasses the county's police and crime commissioner post - previously held by Mark Burns-Williamson - Ms Brabin has had to step down from her Westminster seat, triggering a by-election.

Before entering politics Ms Brabin was an actor, she appeared in Coronation Street, Eastenders and Emmerdale among other television and stage credits.

Tracy Brabin has signed the bits of paper she needs to step down. In any other job that would be a resignation letter but it's actually a job application.

She's taken the job of Steward and Bailiff of the Chiltern Hundreds. Let me explain.

MPs are not allowed to resign. Back in the day - I mean way back - being an MP was seen as an obligation that someone did without really wanting to. Lawmakers didn't want people to be able to resign from the job easily.

Originally taking the Chiltern Hundreds job was seen as a conflict of interest with being an MP - now it's more of a paper title that allows members to resign.

To add to the confusion Parliament also says that being a police and crime commissioner also disqualifies you from being a MP - so maybe Tracy Brabin doesn't have to get involved in the arcane job hunt at all.

Either way Tracy Brabin is Mayor of West Yorkshire.

Ms Brabin's key plans include new houses and a "joined-up" public transport system similar to London's.

"I'm committed to 5,000 new homes, some social housing but genuine affordable homes," she said.

"If [West Yorkshire is] going to flourish and attract people to our region, we need decent good housing in the right place and at the right price."

Another key priority is to bring buses back under public control, and Ms Brabin envisages a "tap-in-tap-out" capped fare for West Yorkshire with "joined up" trains, buses, walking and cycling.

"If it's good enough for London, it's good enough for us," she said.

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