South Yorkshire mayor candidate: Hannah Kitching

The Liberal Democrat South Yorkshire mayor candidate is Hannah Kitching

After working in the NHS as a physiotherapist for 10 years, Ms Kitching left to have children.

She now works alongside her husband running their manufacturing business in South Yorkshire.

In 2018 she was elected to Barnsley Council to represent Penistone West.

Politicians need to be more realistic, she says

She is “fed up” of people in power saying the region has been a victim for the past 30 years. She says the mayor needs a forward-looking attitude, not one who dwells on the past.

The candidate says there needs to be a change in the way of thinking at the top with more honesty and realism about how much funding is available.

Affordable bus routes are her top priority

With buses, she hopes over a 10 year period to increase the number of passengers so there is more money to invest in better, cleaner and more comfortable transport.

She would set up an "invest to save" pot so investment can be made on extra buses and paid for by extra riders’ fares and savings from more efficient vehicles.

She is concerned Supertram must not become “a cash cow” that sucks in money leaving other public transport without investment. She wants the trams to be refurbished and to become financially stable.

With Doncaster Sheffield Airport, she would work to attract a European hub airline to commit to the airport over five years.

She says more police officers are key to tackling crime

The candidate wants to “go back to basics” with no gimmicks, just more bobbies on the beat.

In both urban and rural areas, she says people want to see more community policing and that must be visible with officers working alongside local people and businesses so people feel safer where they live, work and invest.

Mitigating climate change needs to be embedded into everything

She would seek a group of experts from across the world to advise how South Yorkshire can reduce climate damage.

These would be used to ensure any work brought opportunities and economic prosperity but did not harm the environment.

In her own words