Why I will never take for granted being elected Mayor of West Yorkshire - Tracy Brabin

Yet as I look back, it was not the election itself but the weeks before, of campaigning and speaking to people from Keighley to Knottingley and Hebden to Holmfirth, that stick in my mind.

Because wherever I went, whichever door I knocked on, and no matter how someone was going to vote, I was always surprised at the level of agreement.

People well understood what we need to do to achieve the collective ambitions for the region.

That’s why they voted last week for cheaper and more reliable buses, operating under local control, alongside a new tram network. A strategy to reduce serious crime. A region of learning, with access to books and sports guaranteed for every child. And 5,000 new affordable homes, as well as real help to make thousands more homes greener and cheaper to warm.

We’ve shown over the last three years that devolution is working for West Yorkshire. The same is true in South Yorkshire, with Oliver Coppard’s ‘beds for babies’ scheme showing just what can be achieved when you’re committed to rooting out inequality, and providing better life chances for the next generation.

But as we move forward, with deeper devolution and a new mayor for York and North Yorkshire, we can begin to truly unlock the collective power of one unified voice for Yorkshire.

As the chair of the UK Mayors Group, now 12 members strong across England with two brilliant new women mayors, I’ve seen first hand what can happen when elected and empowered regional leaders stand together to demand better for the people they represent.

When Transpennine Express was ripping off taxpayers with a poorer and poorer service for passengers in the North, we successfully pressured the Government to strip them of their contract and bring the service under public control.

And when West Yorkshire and Greater Manchester brought in £2 capped bus fares within days of each other, the Government hurriedly followed suit with a nationwide policy, saving millions of passengers hundreds of pounds a year across England.

Mayors now represent almost 90 percent of the North’s population, and we will continue to work together to close the North-South divide by growing our economy, driving inward investment, and continuing to improve the rail network.

After last week’s election results, there are so many reasons to be optimistic. Where people voted for continuity, what they really voted for was more of the change they’d seen take root in their communities.

The dozens of high street businesses, still struggling with inflation, but surviving thanks to our sustainability grants to ‘go green’ and save on energy bills.

The hundreds of families, stuck on waiting lists for a council house, now moving into safe and secure homes thanks to our devolved multi-million pound brownfield housing fund.

The thousands of people of all ages, wanting desperately to upskill or retrain for a new job, finally getting the concrete support they need to follow their passion.

Or the women and girls, seeing millions of pounds poured into new and improved services for victims, including the country’s first ever dedicated police unit for women’s safety.

At the same time, people across the country rejected the status-quo of vested interests, pork-barrel politics, and Whitehall-knows-best. They’ve shown that they will no longer stand for areas of deprivation being pitched against each other, forced to go cap in hand just to fund the vital things that we used to take for granted – libraries, swimming pools, even police stations.

The centre of gravity has shifted permanently towards greater devolution.

Now, working with the mayors to my north and south, we will build the public transport and adult skills systems we need to drive economic growth and raise living standards across the whole region, getting skilled people to good jobs no matter which side of the border they fall.

And here in West Yorkshire, we will deliver a region of learning and creativity, where everyone has a fundamental right to be inspired in life, spurred on, and lifted up to reach their full potential.

As a council estate kid with the dream of being an actor, that’s what I was able to achieve with the right support, and I know that devolution can bring those same opportunities to everyone in West Yorkshire.

The sky's the limit. Together we can build a brighter region that works for all.

Tracy Brabin is the Mayor of West Yorkshire.