UKIP announces candidate for elected mayor of Peterborough and Cambridgeshire

Cambridgeshire county councillor Paul Bullen has been given the nod to stand in May’s election.

The St Ives resident said he was against extra tiers of local government and had wanted a devolution deal without an elected mayor.

Asked by the Peterborough Telegraph what he would do for the city, he said: “I would treat Peterborough exactly the same as I would treat any other part of Cambridgeshire. There would be no favours for any part.”

Mr Bullen said he wanted to get rid of the county council as he wanted more unitary authorities like Peterborough City Council.

He also promised to be transparent with no exclusion of the press and public from meetings.

The role of elected mayor has been created after Cambridgeshire councils voted in favour of devolution for the county.

The new arrangement will see the formation of a combined authority headed by the mayor.

The authority will feature a representative from all seven councils in the region and a representative of the Greater Cambridge Greater Peterborough Local Enterprise Partnership.

It will be given powers over transport and hundreds of millions of pounds to spend on housing and to support economic growth.

The only other confirmed candidate for mayor so far is entrepreneur Peter Dawe, the independent from Ely.

Other candidates are expected to be announced in the next few weeks.

New combined authority holds first meeting since Cambridgeshire and Peterborough devolution agreed