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13
Jul 2024
From business to Downing Street: North Yorkshire's mayor two months on
It’s been a whirlwind couple of months for David Skaith, York and North Yorkshire's first elected mayor.
At the start of May, he was still a businessman running his own clothing shop, Winstons of York on Swinegate in the city.
Fast forward to July and Mr Skaith is sat at a table in 10 Downing Street with the newly elected Labour Prime Minister, Sir Kier Starmer, discussing what North Yorkshire needs from government.
“That picture paints a thousand words,” he says from his office in York the day after his meeting in Westminster.
In his first interview with the Stray Ferret since his election two months ago, Mr Skaith spoke of his discussions with the Prime Minister and his transition to becoming the first directly elected mayor for the county.
Meeting the Prime Minister
The months since his election have been beset by delays due to the pre-election period, which put on hold some of the work carried out by the mayor’s office and York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority.
Despite that, Mr Skaith describes the creation of the authority as exciting but also busy.
Obviously it’s been really intense, but that's the nature of creating any new organisation I suppose.
The pre-election period saw Mr Skaith dip into party campaigning, such as helping Labour colleagues Keir Mather and Rachael Maskell with their election races.
David Skaith and Sir Keir Starmer after his mayoral election win.
Some four days after the new Labour government was elected, he was summoned to 10 Downing Street with other metro mayors to meet the new Prime Minister and deputy PM, Angela Rayner.
The meeting discussed a new partnership approach between the government and metro mayors, with the aim of improving economic growth.
Mr Skaith said the invitation spoke volumes about what he expects the relationship with the new government to be like.
He said:
The mayors under the previous government never got brought together to 10 Downing Street to discuss how they can deliver for their regions.
Within four days, all the mayors are down in London at Number 10 having a sit down at seven in the morning discussing how we can deliver the plans that national government want to do.
Mr Skaith said one of his concerns going into the meeting was that the combined authority would be overlooked on matters because it was in its infancy compared to others, such as Greater Manchester and Liverpool.
He feared a "two-track" approach, whereby those established authorities would be trusted to deliver on the government's goals as opposed to North Yorkshire - which has only been in existence since February
However, Mr Skaith said his fears were allayed after some of the combined authorities agreed to share resources with newer authorities to help them “get up to speed quicker”.
Economic plans
Aside from the politics, Mr Skaith and the combined authority have been getting to work on drawing up economic plans.
This week, Mr Skaith unveiled his proposal for a business board to help advise the combined authority on its economic policy.
The board would be made up of business leaders, both big and small, and meet with the authority on a quarterly basis.
“It's a way for us to bring businesses and industry together around the table from across York and North Yorkshire talking to us directly about what they want to see, what they see the opportunities are and where they see the growth sectors.”
Those interested can apply via the combined authority website.
Meanwhile, Mr Skaith is currently developing a High Street Fund to help support businesses in the region.
David Skaith (right) with Andy Makin, managing director of Harrogate firm EnviroVent
In June, the combined authority committed £1.5 million to develop the fund, plus work to produce a growth development plan for towns and cities in the region.
Mr Skaith said the authority is also expected to unveil some further economic plans at its board meeting on July 22.
‘It’s a challenge’
The diary of the mayor’s office appears packed.
At the time of our interview, Mr Skaith is liaising with Rachel Reeves’ office to organise a meeting with the chancellor of the exchequer.
He also plans to meet with the leaders of North Yorkshire Council, City of York Council and the newly elected MPs in North Yorkshire next week.
His business is now in the hands of a team who look after it for him while he serves his term as mayor.
The schedule is busy - but does he find it difficult?
Of course it’s difficult. You're talking about an area that’s five times bigger than London with a population of 850,000 and you’ve never had a mayor before.
It’s going to be a challenge, but it's a challenge that I’m very much up for.
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