How will the new York and North Yorkshire Mayor tackle the climate and nature emergency?

On Thursday 2 May, voters in York and North Yorkshire will elect a brand new Mayor. The successful candidate will have wide-ranging powers and funding on areas such as transport, economic development and jobs and skills.

How will the candidates use their powers to tackle the climate and nature emergency? How will this impact our quality of life? Don’t miss an opportunity to find out at a special online debate between the candidates on Monday 22 April at 7pm.

The following candidates have confirmed their participation:

• David Skaith (Labour)
• Felicity Cunliffe-Lister (Liberal Democrats)
• Keith Tordoff MBE (Independent)
• Kevin Foster (Green Party)
• Paul Haslam (Independent)

Keane Duncan (Conservative) has been invited but has so far declined our invitation due to other commitments.

This is organized by a wide range of environmental and climate groups across the region, coordinated by Friends of the Earth in association with CPRE North and East Yorkshire, National Trust, North Yorkshire Climate Coalition, North Yorkshire West Federation Womens Institute, Regional Youth Climate Assembly, Yorkshire Dales Rivers Trust, Yorkshire Wildlife Trust and The Sustainability Community.

For more information on the Friends of the Earth's Mayoral Election Campaign, please see our Climate Action Plan for York and North Yorkshire.

We've also invited candidates to complete an online survey about their policies on key issues - find their responses here.