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Jun 2024
Yorkshire Party aiming to increase vote share in Ripon
The Stray Ferret has spoken to all the candidates running for election in the Skipton and Ripon constituency and will be running features on each of them. Here, Ryan Kett of the Yorkshire Party talks about what his priorities would be if elected.
Some election candidates are steadfast in their desire to win – but Ryan Kett wants to spread the message of the Yorkshire Party.
Standing in Skipton and Ripon on July 4, Mr Kett admits he has “no chance” of winning due to the first-past-the-post voting system.
In an interview with the Stray Ferret ahead of polling day, he said he did not want to insult the electorate’s intelligence about his chances.
But, he has other goals at this election – to increase the profile of the Yorkshire Party locally and its share of the vote.
Yorkshire devolution
Mr Kett joined the Yorkshire Party five years ago after becoming disillusioned with the current system of government.
He stood in the Wakefield constituency at the 2019 general election, where he managed to gain 1.9% of the vote.
Aside from campaigning on local issues, the party’s main goal is to call for a Yorkshire parliament which has devolved control over education, environment, transportation, and housing.
It’s the only party calling for the type of electoral and democratic reform that I believe that we need in this country.
The theory behind the party’s campaign is that Yorkshire is not receiving as much as it can from contributions to the Treasury in general taxation.
Mr Kett said the party is often labelled as a separatist movement, but says that is far from the case.
What we are calling for is not radical. We still get people that believe we’re a separatist movement or calling for independence. It’s ludicrous. We want to remain in the UK.
We just feel our system of government is antiquated and we want to move towards a system of regional parliaments.
Aside from the devolution of powers, Mr Kett has also weighed in on local issues in Skipton and Ripon.
He has called for improved bus services between Ripon and Thirsk and for measures to be introduced to compel housing developers to build on brownfield land in the constituency.
He is also against plans for Ripon Cathedral to build an £8 million annexe, which caused controversy due to the planned felling of 11 trees.
I would not support any proposal which sees the felling of those ancient trees. I have had mixed feedback on that, but it’s a position I’m sticking with.
Chances of winning
The Yorkshire Party will be standing in 27 seats at this election – around half of the constituencies in the region.
Mr Kett’s aim in Skipton and Ripon is to increase the party’s vote share.
He has already admitted in his own campaign literature that he has little chance of winning the seat, which he says is due to the country’s voting system.
Why insult people’s intelligence? The vast majority of people you talk to are intelligent. Why pretend you can win?
Instead, the party’s goal is to increase its base in the hope of winning seats in the future.
However, in the meantime, they view any vote cast for them as a message to government that people support democratic reform in the region.
The full list of candidates for Skipton and Ripon are as follows:
- Malcolm Birks, Labour
- Andy Brown, Green Party
- Simon Garvey, Reform UK
- Ryan Kett, Yorkshire Party
- Andrew Murday, Liberal Democrats
- Guy Phoenix, Heritage Party
- Julian Smith, Conservative
- Keith Tordoff, Independent
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