THE Green Party has changed its candidate in the upcoming election for the next West of England Metro Mayor.
The party unveiled Bristol City Council deputy leader Heather Mack as its candidate in November.
However in January it announced that Cllr Mack had stood down from the candidacy “to allow her to focus on her council role”.
In her place the Greens have named Mary Page, who was the party’s candidate in the Bristol North West constituency at the last general election, finishing runner-up to Labour’s Darren Jones.
A media and marketing specialist, Mary was previously a member of the Liberal Democrats and was selected in 2019 as the Lib Dem candidate for the role of Bristol Mayor, running on a platform of abolishing the post.
She later stood down from the candidacy for personal reasons, but led the ‘It’s Our City Bristol – Scrap the Mayor’ campaign in 2022, which won a referendum to abolish the role then held by Labour’s Marvin Rees.
Mary said it was her “pleasure and honour” to be the Green Party candidate for the Metro Mayor election, which takes place on May 1.
She said: “Our party offers Real Hope and Real Change to all those who feel they have lost their political home or lost faith in our democratic system.
“This is such an important moment for our country and our region.
“We need housing that builds rather than breaks communities, the opportunity to train and upskill for permanent, quality jobs and sustainable transport for our cities and our rural areas. The Green Party is committed to those things and that’s why I am so delighted to be representing us in this West of England regional mayor campaign.”
Labour and the Conservatives have both selected former Bristol city councillors, Helen Godwin and Steve Smith respectively, in the election to replace Labour’s Dan Norris, who is unable to stand again after being elected as an MP and banned from having two jobs by his party.
The Lib Dems and Reform UK had yet to announce a candidate as the Voice went to print.