East Midlands mayoral candidate: Claire Ward

Claire Ward is standing as a candidate for the Labour Party

People living in the East Midlands Combined County Authority (the four local authorities of Derby, Derbyshire, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire) will elect their first regional mayor on 2 May. Here's what you need to know about all of the candidates and their top priorities.

Claire Ward served as an MP under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown

Claire Ward was previously MP for Watford, serving from 1997 to 2010.

The 51-year-old is a mother of two teenagers, and lives in north Nottinghamshire.

A qualified solicitor, she has been a non-executive director of Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust since 2013, and was appointed chair in 2021.

She says she wants to be mayor because she is "frustrated" the East Midlands is not achieving its full potential and is being "held back" by the government.

She says getting the authority support in place is key

Ms Ward says "getting the structures and support right" for the role will be an early ambition if elected.

She says she wants to secure strong partnerships early on with councils and businesses to push the region forward.

Ms Ward wants to offer 'skills audits' along with health checks

The Labour candidate says she wants to improve the local economy by bringing inward investment to the region.

She says investing in skills will mean people can get into the jobs of the future.

Ms Ward wants to link up the NHS so people can get a "skills audit", allowing them to know whether they are fit for work, but also to see if they have the right skills for the "next 20 or 30 years".

She says the mayor 'has to get a grip' of transport

Ms Ward says buses are both "really good" and "really poor", depending on where they operate.

She says in the first instance, she wants to work with the operators to see if they can improve things in poorly-served areas.

But she adds if there "is no cooperation and agreement", she will "move swiftly" to look at a bus franchising model.

Ms Ward also wants to encourage and support both Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire county councils to carry out a "proper roads repair programme" in fixing potholes through devolved funding.

Ms Ward wants to set up a 'homelessness taskforce'

She says she is in the process of looking at bringing together lots of groups to tackle homelessness in the region with Baroness Louise Casey - one of the country's most senior social workers.

She says Baroness Casey has already done some work in Nottingham and wants to bring her expertise across the wider area.

Ms Ward also wants to tackle health inequalities and says in some areas, people in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire can live up to 10 years longer than people in communities a short distance away.

She adds this means better homes, transport, jobs and skills are needed to improve things.