Lib Dems Cambridgeshire and Peterborough mayoral candidate voted against the creation of the role

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Liberal Democrats has announced its candidate for the 2025 mayoral election.

Lorna Dupré is the leader of the Liberal Democrat and Independent Group on East Cambridgeshire District Council as well as the deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats on Cambridgeshire County Council.

From Sutton, near Ely, Ms Dupré is hoping to become the next Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority (CPCA) mayor at the election on May 1.

Despite her intentions to become mayor, Ms Dupré admitted she does not agree with the role.

She said: “I voted against having an elected mayor. I don’t believe that it’s the right way to run local decision making.

“I’m a great believer in having different voices around the table and I think vesting a lot of power in a single individual is generally not a good thing.

“I believe that the mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough should work in partnership with the many other agencies that are making decisions.

“It needs to be a partnership and I think my approach to the mayoralty would be to share power as vast and as widely as possible.”

Ms Dupré has four years of experience at the CPCA as chair of the overview and scrutiny committee, under two different mayors. She began as a councillor in 1991, moving from Harlow to Cambridgeshire in 2009.

Despite not being from Peterborough, she vows to put the city on the map when it comes to receiving its fair share of funding from central government.

Ms Dupré said: “Cambridgeshire and Peterborough is a huge and very diverse area to try to understand and represent and, by nature, every mayor has to come from somewhere.

“It’s really about sharing power. I’ve visited Peterborough, had meetings in Peterborough and have colleagues there. I was up there just 10 days ago talking to colleagues about active travel.

“One of the main things is how very underfunded by government Cambridgeshire and Peterborough is. There is a lot that goes on here which is of critical importance to the nation.

“It seems that isn’t recognised by government and, where it is recognised, it tends to be centred around Cambridge and what Cambridge has to offer.

“But Peterborough has fantastic things to offer as well and we really need to put the city on the map with the government much more effectively.”

Ms Dupré’s three key priorities are for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough to be “greener, fairer, and better connected”.

Former Conservative Peterborough MP Paul Bristow is also running for mayor.

Current mayor, Dr Nik Johnson, is reportedly standing for re-election, but it has not been officially confirmed. Labour East has been approached for confirmation.

Reform UK is yet to put forward a candidate. Party member Sophie Corcoran, recently posted on X that she would “grab it with both hands” if she got the opportunity to stand for mayor.