A former Tory candidate has ruled himself out of the running to become mayor of the North East.
Charlie Hoult has confirmed he will not be standing in the big election set to be held in 2024, following the announcement of a new £4.2bn devolution deal for the region last week. The businessman, who owns the Hoults Yard in Newcastle, finished as runner up to Labour’s Jamie Driscoll in the North of Tyne mayoral election in 2019.
But he says commercial commitments with growing software business Opencast mean he will not seek the Conservative Party’s nomination for the new mayoral job, which will cover a much bigger patch encompassing all of Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, and County Durham. Mr Hoult urged whoever does take on the role to be a vocal champion for the North East and to push for more powers and money to be clawed away from “Westminster’s dead hand of control”.
