Bristol mayor Marvin Rees is considering running in the general election in 2024 as a Member of Parliament. His second term as mayor finishes in May 2024, likely to be when the next general election will take place.
The city is due to get a fifth MP at the next election, after the Boundary Commission proposed creating a new Bristol North East constituency. Asked on the radio if he would consider standing in the new seat, the mayor said he would “throw his hat into the ring”.
Mr Rees has served as mayor of Bristol since 2016 and is halfway through his second term. He will be Bristol’s last mayor before the city switches to a committee-run council, after voters in a referendum earlier this year decided to scrap the unpopular mayoral model.
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Speaking to John Darvall on BBC Radio Bristol on Thursday, November 17, Mr Rees said: “I would admit that after talking to my family, I do kind of feel that there’s a little bit more in my political journey.
“If there’s an opportunity to step into politics in Parliament and do something for Bristol, and do something for the country and the world, then if people choose me, then yeah I’ll throw my hat into the ring.
“This is my city. I wouldn’t have run around the country, that’s not what it’s about. For me it’s about politics in Bristol. The fact that the boundary review does create a space in Bristol, a platform in Bristol, to do more work with Bristol is an incredibly interesting alignment of events.”
The next general election must be held before January 2025, five years since the previous one, but the government is expected to call one earlier than that. Most general elections in the UK are usually held in the spring.
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