Nigel Farage has given his views on Luke Campbell’s first year as the inaugural Mayor of Hull and East Yorkshire.
The Reform UK leader also spoke about Mr Campbell’s more green-friendly tendencies saying it is positive for him to “support anything in the area that provides jobs”.
Mr Farage and Mr Campbell were among some of the speakers at the party’s Connexin Live ‘rally’ on Monday.
Reform UK used the event to kick-start its local election campaign ahead of Hull City Council’s elections on May 7 that will see a third of the seats contested.
At a similar event last year, the party used the same venue to announce the former Olympic boxer as its candidate for the Hull and East Yorkshire Mayoral election. After winning the election last May, Mr Campbell finds himself just under a year into a four-year term as the region’s elected figurehead.
In the hours before the event, LDRS spoke to Mr Farage at the New Walton Club off Spring Bank West. Mr Farage was asked to rate his Mayor’s first year in office and to name what he thought Mr Campbell’s three biggest achievements have been.
“Number one, he’s managed to find the resourcefulness to change the central team around him,” Mr Farage said, adding: “He really did face some obstructionism from people who perhaps ought to have been neutral.
“Number two, he’s brought great stability to the office. It’s a very new post. He’s brought stability and respectability to the office.
“And number three, he’s done well in applying for grants and funding for Hull. Does he want to go a lot further? You bet your life he does, especially with business innovation.” When pushed to give Mr Campbell’s mayoralty so far a rating out of ten, Mr Farage said “He’s a good eight.”
Since being elected last year, Mr Campbell has seemingly taken a pro-green energy stance in some circumstances. For example, he proclaimed during the Hull and East Yorkshire Combined Authority’s (HEYCA) Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting, “who doesn’t like cleaner air and green energy?”
As Mr Farage’s party seeks to scrap what it calls “net stupid zero” and supports oil and gas, some have questioned how Mr Campbell is able to balance the interests of his party with the interests of the region. During a HEYCA meeting last year, a member of the public asked the Mayor if he saw “any conflict” between the interests of his party and Hull and East Yorkshire. Mr Campbell replied:
“I’ve been very vocal on stating that I represent this region and I put them first over any party politics. I’ve always expressed that I’ll put this region first over anything.”
Mr Farage said “it’s fine” for Mr Campbell to “support anything in the area that provides jobs, but not if it has subsidy because that subsidy goes on to your bills, my bills, but most importantly the bills of industry.” The Reform UK leader added that Mr Campbell has made it “perfectly clear” that he doesn’t support subsidy.
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