Yorkshire Party Priorities The people of Yorkshire deserve politicians who will put people before party-line.

Full statement

Labour and the Tories have neglected Yorkshire for decades; infrastructure is crumbling, crime rates remain high and services are failing. Change is needed. Elect me, and I will use my skills and experience in engineering, renewables and education to improve West Yorkshire.

The proposed West Yorkshire mass transit system mustn't be just a couple of slow tram routes - we need a West Yorkshire Metro, with elevated and underground sections, to avoid the worst congestion and shorten journey times. It would also reduce air pollution by giving drivers a high quality alternative form of transport.

The Bradford clean air zone has not solved air pollution and has penalised people who have no choice about where they drive work-vehicles. The Yorkshire Party would reform this, while looking to make Yorkshire a leader in electric and hydrogen-powered vehicles (as well as developing a West Yorkshire Metro).

British rail travel is amongst the most expensive in the world. I will introduce a Yorkshire Travel Pass, giving the lowest fares across bus and train journeys, no peak-time hike, no cross-border penalties, no need to book in advance - just tap and go, and get the best deal as standard. London already much cheaper transport and much higher quality - please vote for change.

Social services urgently require improvement, to support the most vulnerable people in society and protect them from crime, especially children. Children are also failed in terms of education quality. In both cases, the Government provides too little funding for Yorkshire councils, while the local council mismanages what money is available.

I met with the West Yorkshire Housing Partnership earlier this month, and want to help enable them to convert more derelict sites into homes, and to retrofit more existing homes, to make them greener; the Yorkshire Party has long supported greener homes, with solar panels and proper insulation, including lower-cost starter-homes, social housing and retirement homes. Politicians should facilitate these efforts by simplifying the grants available to all home owners, and making this help permeant - rather than creating a short-term rush to temporary funding, which overloads suppliers.

There is a huge skills shortage in the emerging green technology sector, which holds greener homes back. I would introduce specialist green technology colleges to fill these skills gaps, as well as those in health and social care and digital industries, empowering West Yorkshire's economy.

When new developments are approved, community facilities – GPs, dentists, schools, shops and post offices, for example – need to be planned in with them, and the transport network built to cope with these new houses.

For renters, local Yorkshire Party members have already been heavily involved with helping tenants and ensuring that landlords are made to live up to their obligations. For people who cannot find a home, perhaps because they do not have three years of rent history, we propose a rent guarantor scheme, in which the local authority guarantees the rent, in return for it being lowered.

I’ll prioritise crime prevention and detection, and build public trust by ensuring that policing is measured by results, with proper scrutiny and accountability to the public whom they serve.

The police must uphold the law without fear or favour. When a Batley school teacher and his family faced threats from extremists, those in authority, including Mayor Brabin, failed to do so, and ultimately failed the victim.

A better society may be achieved by improving links between policing and the community, and also with more youth centres and inter-community events and co-operation.

I’ll fight for funding for more front-line police and reduce waste. One of many examples of waste, is a two-day cultural awareness training course, which all West Yorkshire police officers must attend – that’s 27,000 police-days wasted, at astronomical cost.

Racism is never acceptable in any circumstances and those unsuited for the police service should be screened out at the recruitment stage; and there must be a zero-tolerance approach to any racism in the police service. But a tick-box training course is a very big waste of resources, from a police service already struggling to meet the needs of the community.

The two-party system has failed Yorkshire. Only voting for your region's party will make them listen - force them to take Yorkshire's problems seriously and, just before a General Election, make them rewrite their manifestoes.

When the Yorkshire Party wins, Yorkshire wins.

Vote Yorkshire Party

Dr Bob Buxton

Co-Leader of the Yorkshire Party Candidate for West Yorkshire Mayor