Batley and Spen MP endorsed by Doctor Who for Yorkshire mayorship

The Labour MP, who is also Shadow Secretary of State for Culture and Media, said it is time for her home county ‘to reach for the stars’.

She said her journey from Batley ‘council estate kid to freelance actor and writer, living from job to job’, has prepared her far more for public service than any elite university or political job ever could.

The former actress, who succeeded the late Jo Cox as Batley & Spen MP in 2016, is endorsed by Doctor Who star Jodie Whittaker, who said: “As a woman from Yorkshire, it’s vital to me that we’re represented.

“There are no women metro mayors across the country and we need our voices heard, not just in Yorkshire but in Westminster and Whitehall.

“Tracy Brabin is our shot at having that representation.

“She is a beacon of real and exciting change and I fully endorse her campaign as mayor of West Yorkshire – for women and for all West Yorkshire.”

The first mayoral election is due to be held next May – the culmination of the devolution deal that Chancellor Rishi Sunak struck with Leeds, Bradford, Wakefield, Kirklees and Calderdale councils in the Budget in March.

Nominations to be the Labour candidate have now opened – with the successful candidate due to be unveiled in mid-December.

Writing in The Yorkshire Post, Ms Brabin, a one-time star of Coronation Street, said her ‘immediate priority will be to build on work already under way to establish a Job Creation Taskforce to create good, unionised jobs and retraining opportunities’.

She also cites housing. She said: “With the numbers of evictions mounting post-Covid, ensuring everyone has a decent place to live must be a priority too.

“Working with experts, I will create a social housing task force, using Yorkshire’s expertise in building low-carbon homes to fund thousands more.

“Homelessness is a stain on our communities and I will do all I can to eradicate it.

“I feel incredibly privileged to have represented my home constituency of Batley & Spen in Parliament for the last four years.”