Bristol needs a Mayor with courage, vision and the ability to reject austerity, says Marvin Rees’ first official challenger for office.

Sandy Hore-Ruthven will be unveiled as Bristol Green Party’s mayoral candidate for the 2020 election at a swanky launch party this evening.

Mr Hore-Ruthven, who founded the Station Creative Youth Network 25 years ago, will promise to keep Bristol Arena in the city centre and reject central government austerity if elected in 18 months time.

“Bristol is at a standstill and we need to a Mayor to look beyond the next election cycle to get things moving,” he said.

“We need a Mayor who has the courage to make big decisions today that will improve our city now and make it a place we can be proud of for our kids.

“In politics, you can’t offer many guarantees, but I can offer one. If elected, I will work tirelessly for this city, for the young people who live here and for all of our futures.”

Mayor of Bristol Marvin Rees

The mayoral race

The next Bristol City Council mayoral election is due to take place in May 2020. Parties will soon start to announce candidates and set out on the campaign trail to canvass for votes.

Mr Rees has already confirmed he will be standing as the candidate for the Labour Party, and it is all but certain he will be reselected by his group.

The Tories and the Lib Dems are yet to confirm who they will put forward and the city can expect to see a number of independent candidates.

The Green Party's 2020 Mayoral candidate, Sandy Hore-Ruthven

The big questions

The 2020 vote will be Bristol’s third Mayoral election and will coincide with an all-out council election.

The mayoral campaign trail is likely to be dominated by two topics - council cuts and Bristol Arena.

Mr Hore-Ruthven is expected to touch on both of these topics at the launch party.

In his speech he will say: “I know that the Temple Meads [Arena] scheme was ready to go but that it would have taken real courage for any Mayor to commit to it.

“It is not something I take lightly but if things still stand as they are today if elected as your Mayor, the first thing I would do is to revive the Bristol Arena plans at Temple Meads.

“It is important to understand why I say this. It is a much bigger point here than just the arena. In power we cannot let the fear of austerity dictate what we can do as a city.

“Austerity is not the city’s fault nor is it the Mayor’s - that accolade belongs to the current Conservative government. But how we respond to it is our choice.

“Do we respond with courage and vision, or with indecision and inaction? We can choose to shy away from big decisions and batten down the hatches until things get better or we can see these uncertain times as an opportunity to stand out from the crowd, to show the country, and the world that Bristol is still open, optimistic, creative and fun.”

Bristol Arena

The future

Mr Hore-Ruthven will also pledge to focus on creating an equal Bristol fit for future generations.

“If we are going solve the problems we know [future generations] are going to be facing in 50 years time, we need to show courage now - whether that be on environmental issues, jobs, addressing inequality, the economy,” he will say.

“Just as we are living with the decisions our predecessors made – both good and bad - so they will be living with ours. Right now, we need to be investing our time, energy and money into Bristol’s future.

“I understand that our wonderfully diverse city has communities that don’t feel part of our success - communities in parts of South Bristol and our BAME communities tell me again and again they feel excluded from decision making and left out of the growing wealth in Bristol.

“These divisions are becoming sharper and inequality is growing. It’s made worse by the ‘winner takes all’ mentality of mainstream politics that is hugely damaging and feeds the inequality and division we are trying to resolve - rich and poor, black and white, left and right.

“Division creates poverty - it doesn’t solve it.”

City Hall in College Green, Bristol

Movers and shakers

Mr Hore-Ruthven already has the support of a number of influential people in Bristol and will bring executive producer at Aardman Animations, Heather Wright, to his launch event.

“Sandy has demonstrated time and again, that he understands the value that the marriage of creativity, technology and the arts can contribute to the culture and commercial success of the city as a whole,” Ms Wright said.

“Sandy has a proven track record of dreaming big and making it happen. Tenacity, determination, diplomacy, honesty and ability to ask the difficult questions.”

The Green Party has seen its numbers steadily increase in the council chamber over the past decade.

Despite this, the group has never been able to harness large support when it comes to the mayoral vote.

Its members and politicians across the country are doubtlessly hoping for a change of fortune in 2020, delivering the first directly elected Green Mayor.