Conservatives name ex-Bristol city councillor as West of England metro mayor candidate

Man in suit smiling to camera
-Credit: (Image: Conservative Party)


Former Bristol city councillor Steve Smith has been named as the Conservatives’ candidate to be the next West of England metro mayor. The former lord mayor, who represented Westbury-on-Trym & Henleaze ward from 2018 to May 2024 when all three Tory incumbents in the ward were replaced by the Lib Dems at the local elections, is the first official nominee to be announced.

Labour members are deciding between a shortlist of three former cabinet members who served in ex-mayor Marvin Rees’s executive – ex-councillors Nicola Beech and Helen Godwin, and current opposition group leader Cllr Tom Renhard. The Greens’ candidate will be either Bristol City Council deputy leader Cllr Heather Mack or Mary Page, who spearheaded the campaign to scrap the role of Bristol mayor.

It is unclear who the Lib Dems will put forward for the West of England Combined Authority (Weca) mayor but they are likely to be from Bath & North East Somerset. Mr Smith was officially named as the Conservatives’ contender next May following a meeting of local party members on Saturday, November 9.

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During his time as a councillor he sat on the Weca scrutiny committee, chaired the city council’s health overview and scrutiny committee and was lord mayor of Bristol in 2021-22. He has pledged to bring “grown-up leadership back to the combined authority” and boost economic growth across the region.

Mr Smith said he would “undo the damage” to Weca’s reputation under the leadership of Labour metro mayor Dan Norris, who will not be standing next year because he was elected as MP for North East Somerset & Hanham at July’s general election, and new Labour rules ban second jobs in elected office. The government slapped the combined authority with a formal warning earlier this year.

The “best value notice” issued in March directed the organisation to set up an independent improvement panel to address a host of issues, from poor relationships between political leaders to “confusion” about what Weca does. Independent auditors have criticised the organisation’s poor governance and failure to provide value for money, although the combined authority has taken steps to improve this.

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Mr Norris was also found to be responsible for unlawfully spending £10,000 of public money plastering the side of a bus with huge images of him and his dog to promote the Birthday Bus scheme. Following his nomination, Mr Smith said: “It’s an immense privilege to be selected as the Conservative candidate for mayor of the West of England.

“Our region has huge potential to lead in areas such as innovation, green technology and sustainable growth, but we need strong leadership to unlock that potential for everyone in our community. I am committed to working tirelessly to create a West of England that works for everybody, where political leaders can be trusted to work together and where the West of England is able to reach its full potential and grow our economy for everyone’s benefit.

“I am the candidate to deliver on all these priorities, and I’m hugely looking forward to meeting as many residents as possible during the campaign, listening carefully to what matters to them and turning the combined authority into what it should be – a force for good in all our lives.” He lives in Westbury-on-Trym with his family and works as a self-employed business consultant helping small firms to win government contracts.

Mr Smith has volunteered with Scouts for over 25 years and is a trustee of two local charities. Weca comprises Bristol city, South Gloucestershire and B&NES councils, while North Somerset is likely to join soon.