YP Letters: South Yorkshire needs mayor with experience to deliver

Is Dan Jarvis qualified to be mayor of the Sheffield City Region?

THE Yorkshire Post’s endorsement (January 31 and February 1) of Dan Jarvis in the Sheffield City Region mayoral election is arbitrary and premature as no real scrutiny of all the candidates has taken place.

Of the announced Labour candidates, all say they are committed to a One Yorkshire deal.

But of the candidates overlooked by The Yorkshire Post, Ben Curran has significant experience of local government while Richard Caborn has held ministerial office.

Both have significant records of delivering for Sheffield and South Yorkshire, admittedly Mr Caborn’s achievements are on a grander scale.

Dan Jarvis has no such tangible experience of governing and no record of delivery on the scale required of a mayor. The Yorkshire Post is right – the fortunes of South Yorkshire are linked to the dynamism of the rest of the county.

But at this stage in the process South Yorkshire’s needs must come first and for that we need a mayor with the vision and experience to deliver.