2 weeks Ago By Chloe Chaplain
Illegal drugs, anti-social behaviour and overdevelopment are among the issues troubling voters who will elect the next Mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough on 1 May.This contest marks an opportunity for the Conservatives to reclaim the post after they unexpectedly lost it in the 2021 local elections – and inflict a black mark on Labour’s recent electoral successes.Paul Bristow, the former Conservative MP in the area, is taking on Labour candidate and local councillor Anna Smith after the incumbent Labour mayor, Nik Johnson, did not seek re-election.
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addToArray({"pos": "inread-hb-ros-inews"}); }And early polling has indicated the seat could end up being the first step in the Tory fightback after the party’s crushing general election defeat in 2024.According to the data first revealed in The i Paper, Labour is on track to lose the key mayoral post in May, which would be an electoral blow relatively early on in Sir Keir Starmer’s premiership.A March poll by the think tank Labour Together put the Tories ahead at 31 per cent, with 27 per cent voting Labour, the Liberal Democrats at 20 per cent, and Reform trailing in fourth with 13 per cent.
Unlike elsewhere in the country, the Tories do not seem to have Reform snapping at their heels in this race. Meanwhile, Labour may have to reach across to try to convince Lib Dem supporters to back them if they want to secure the mayoralty.if(window.
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adverts) { window.adverts.addToArray({"pos": "mpu_tablet_l1"}); }Tories still face a battle to win back trustIn rural Glinton, a village north of the city, Mik says he will vote Lib Dem but would be prepared to vote Labour to keep the Tories out.
The resident has lived in the area for almost 24 years and works with children with special educational needs. He was put off supporting the Conservatives due to their record in central government. Still, it seems the Labour administration could go the same way in his eyes, and he is not convinced Starmer is making the positive change he wants to see.
#color-context-related-article-3601068 {--inews-color-primary: #5C909D;--inews-color-secondary: #EFF4F5;--inews-color-tertiary: #5C909D;} Read Next square LABOUR PARTY .inews__post__label__exclusive{background-color: #e33a11;color: #ffffff;}ExclusiveLabour on course to lose key mayoral post in May, poll suggestsRead More“I used to vote Tory, but never again. Fourteen years of mismanagement, simple as that,” he said.
“I’m not impressed with Labour. They have not had long yet, but nothing is showing very good signs of improvement at the moment.”Bristow was the Tory MP for Peterborough for almost five years before he lost the seat to Labour’s Andrew Pakes by a slim margin of 118 votes.
He now fancies his chances as the wider region’s next mayor. But he acknowledges he still has work to do to win back favour among voters like Mik, who turned away from the Tories.He says that if elected, he would model himself on other mayors, such as Labour’s Andy Burnham in Manchester or the former Tory Mayor of the West Midlands, Andy Street – both known for not being afraid to go against the party line.
“I am a Conservative, and people will have to make their own judgment, but my attitude has always been region first, county first, party second. That’s the type of mayor I’m going to be. That’s where I think we’ve had successful mayors in the past,” Bristow said.
Have the Conservatives done enough since their election defeat to be able to win back trust?if(window.adverts) { window.adverts.
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addToArray({"pos": "mpu_tablet_l2"}); }“Well, we lost it with our worst-ever defeat, and in many ways, we deserved it because we spent the final two years of the government appearing like we were talking to ourselves rather than the rest of the country,” Bristow said.“But that’s then. This is now.
We need to rebuild, and that rebuilding starts here in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.”Early polling has indicated this seat could be the first step in the Tory fightback. (Photo: Alex Dearlove /The i Paper)Paul Bristow, the former Conservative MP in the area, is taking on Labour candidate and local councillor Anna Smith.
(Photo: Alex Dearlove/The i Paper)Labour housebuilding targets fuel voters’ concerns Others in the village are not happy about plans to build houses locally, ramped up by the Government’s promise to build 1.5 million homes.One woman named Karen chatted with The i Paper on her way to get supplies from the local village shop.
She said she did not yet know who she would be voting for but was unhappy with Labour being in power in Westminster.A major concern for her was underinvestment in infrastructure and schools, which she said she worried would not cope with the construction of more homes.“A big issue around here is the infrastructure – when it goes wrong, it really goes wrong, with roads and access.
I’m worried about more housing in the village, and we are actually thinking of moving away for that reason,” she said.These fears were shared by others. Another woman out walking her dog, who asked not to be named, shared her concerns: “I will vote, but I don’t know who for yet,” she said.
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addToArray({"pos": "mpu_tablet_l3"}); }“I don’t want the housing development next to the village; the facilities just can’t cope. We need them to sort the local water infrastructure because it’s not fit for purpose, and more demand won’t help with that. And we have a doctor’s surgery but can never get appointments – they direct us to the next village.
”Retiree Neal has lived in Peterborough for around 60 years. He is planning to vote for Bristow because he believes he represented the area well as its MP and felt the Labour mayor, Johnson, acted “like we don’t exist.”He wants to see more investment in the town centre.
“It’s depressing that you haven’t got any local parking, and they are building more e-cigarette shops and takeaways when what we need is more industry shops like supermarkets,” he said. “We could do with development, but not so many houses.”Some voters are not happy about plans to build houses locally, ramped up by the government’s promise to build 1.
5 million homes. (Photo: Alex Dearlove/The i Paper)Such comments could act as a warning sign for Labour in the area. And the Tories are acutely aware of this.
Bristow referred to the housebuilding targets, spearheaded by Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, several times in conversation.“Angela Rayner is coming, and like the white walkers in Game of Thrones, she can’t be stopped. She’s going to build 100,000 homes in South Cambridgeshire.
And we need to be a county where we set our own agenda instead of in a county where things are done to us,” he said.#color-context-related-article-3639087 {--inews-color-primary: #5C909D;--inews-color-secondary: #EFF4F5;--inews-color-tertiary: #5C909D;} Read Next square REFORM UK .inews__post__label__exclusive{background-color: #e33a11;color: #ffffff;}ExclusiveWhy a Tory-Reform 'pact' is no longer taboo among Conservative MPsRead MoreBristow added that he was “not against” the plans but was concerned about the strain on infrastructure.
He said he wants to dual some of the key roads, speed up rail connections between Peterborough and Cambridge, and connect some of the market towns.if(window.adverts) { window.
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adverts.addToArray({"pos": "mpu_tablet_l4"}); }The Labour candidate is also attuned to the potential for pushback. Speaking to The i Paper from a cafe just outside Peterborough city centre, Smith said she had experienced “similar conversations” with residents sharing concerns over the strain of having too many houses.
“That is why one of my pledges is to build infrastructure and not just new homes. I think we’ve seen some examples where you have had a lot of houses, but you’ve had no infrastructure alongside that. Spatial planning powers are coming to mayors, and that allows quite a lot of influence in this space, and it has to be about getting that infrastructure in first, and that’s important for everyone,” she said.
And would she be prepared to push back against the central government if necessary?“Mayors will always champion their area, and anyone who knows me knows that I am an independent-minded person. But what I’m seeing, to be honest, is how a Labour mayor working with the Labour government has so much potential to transform life,” Smith said.Anna Smith said residents had shared concerns over the strain of having too many houses.
(Photo: Alex Dearlove/The i Paper)History of the mayoral raceConservative James Palmer first won the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough mayoralty after its establishment in 2017.Palmer claimed a 56.9 per cent vote share after the second round ballots were counted, beating out his nearest rival by almost 14 per cent.
Palmer’s victory also came alongside the best local election campaign for the Tories in over a decade. The Tories gained 559 councillors and increased their vote share by 11 per cent. In 2021, however, Labour candidate Nik Johnson flipped the position, taking his party from a distant third to victory with a 14.
2 per cent swing in his favour. Johnson ran on a platform opposing the incumbent’s controversial plans to connect the area with a transport system made up of a fleet of driverless pods. He claimed these plans were “foolish” and would cost upwards of £4bn.
Conservative candidate and current poll leader Paul Bristow was formerly MP for Peterborough from 2019 until losing the seat to Labour candidate Andrew Pakes in 2024 by only 118 votes.Johnson recently announced that he would stand down in January, being replaced by Anna Smith, former leader of the Cambridge City Council. Bristow has pledged to end the Labour Party’s “war on motorists” and accused the Government of aiming for “absurd targets” that would see 15 per cent of cars off the roads by 2030.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has been particularly interested in the race.He visited the area on the campaign trail to support his party’s candidate.This included getting a temporary “British Bulldog” tattoo at a local ink shop and pledging to introduce an Elon Musk-style Department for Government Efficiency in Cambridgeshire.
However, the Reform Party is not expected to perform well in the election. According to early polling, it is currently trailing in fourth place. This will also be the first round of mayoral elections to employ a first-past-the-post electoral system rather than the previous system of two rounds, which allowed voters to choose between just two candidates.
Johnson won in 2021 after coming second in the first round, with the backing of Lib Dem and Green voters.‘Labour and Tories have reneged on their duties’Local concerns about crime are another topic that is repeatedly discussed in discussions with residents closer to Peterborough’s city centre.A market trader running a stall next to the scenic Cathedral Square in the centre of Peterborough said it was a tough environment to operate in as a small business owner.
“There is a lot of homelessness and people drinking and taking drugs all around. It is a problem,” he said. “There is loads of potential, but it is not being reached.
It is hard work being a trader here.”if(window.adverts) { window.
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adverts.addToArray({"pos": "mpu_tablet_l5"}); }The frustration is shared. Gillian Willerston, who was out shopping with her son, said crime was the number one issue she wanted to be addressed.
“We need more police on the beat like we used to have. They need to be seen doing patrols,” she said.#color-context-related-article-3650189 {--inews-color-primary: #E33A11;--inews-color-secondary: #F7F3EF;--inews-color-tertiary: #E33A11;} Read Next square NEWS .
inews__post__label__explained{background-color: #0a0a0a;color: #ffffff;}ExplainedCould Labour's 'return hubs' plan tackle soaring immigration?Read MoreJust outside the city, author Sagheer Afzal told The i Paper of his concern for the state of Lincoln Road – the street leading into the centre – which he said is plagued with crime, anti-social behaviour and rubbish littering the pavements.“This has been the state for about seven or eight years, but the councillors who are responsible for that road and know its strategic importance don’t bother to clean it up. They simply cannot be motivated to perform a vital service for the community,” he said.
“I think that’s why so many people have gone towards the Green Party because they’ve shied away from Labour and Tory and they have felt they have done a disservice to Peterborough. I do feel the Labour and Tory councillors have reneged on their duties and let Peterborough slide. They haven’t regarded the cleanliness of streets as something of vital importance, and fly tipping has been happening frequently and is not being addressed.
”He said the area is “prone to violence” with “lots of undesirables” hanging around.“In the early hours of the morning, you can find peddlers of drugs. How can that be happening? This isn’t New York.
The police should be doing something about that. Councillors have been made aware of it, and they should be doing something about it.”Councillor Smith is Deputy Mayor of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority (Photo Alex Dearlove/The i Paper)Smith, the Labour candidate, said she is acutely aware of the concerns about crime and wants to use her relationship with the Westminster Government to try to speed up action in the area.
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addToArray({"pos": "mpu_tablet_l6"}); }“I want to get Cambridgeshire and Peterborough right at the top of the list for a pilot of the new respect orders coming in, and that’s going to allow much swifter action. Those kinds of things that the police have potentially struggled to deal with in the past, these respective tools will really help with that.”Being in the same political party as the Westminster Government may help Smith to push ahead with such changes, but it also presents a challenge in the form of local backlash due to voter frustrations about what is happening on a national level.
Ms Willerston, who spoke of her concerns about a lack of police presence in the town centre, also said she was worried about the Government’s decision to withdraw winter fuel payments for many pensioners, like herself, and is concerned for her son – who has autism – who now faces losing his welfare entitlement due to disability benefit reforms.She would not say who she would be voting for but made it clear policies such as these had not enamoured her to the Labour Party.Is Smith concerned about being associated with the Government and some of its more unpopular decisions? If she is, she does not say so, arguing instead that Labour has been in Government for a “very short amount of time” and the “positive impact” is already showing.
But when pressed on whether she felt that any backlash against the Government could push voters, particularly younger or more marginalised people, to smaller parties like the Greens or Liberal Democrats, Smith made it clear she was fighting for every vote.“I think it’s really good that we’ve got such a range of people standing; that is good for democracy. But what I would say absolutely clearly in this election is all of the evidence shows that it will be me or it will be the Conservatives, so it will end up being a two-horse race.
”.
