Mayoral Election – the Liberal Democrat candidate ...

Felicity Cunliffe-Lister, like a number of people who now live in North Yorkshire, trained and worked in London before coming to a new career in this region.

When I met her over a cup of tea in Thirsk, she told me of her legal training and work in commercial property in London.

Thinking ahead to the work of a regional mayor she told me “I’m really comfortable with big numbers and big deals.”

She put that skill to the test when she set up a business in Yorkshire in 2000, starting with zero employees and growing it to a turnover of £6 million. She knows the hard work that small and medium businesses face.

She was elected a County Councillor in February 2023. I asked her how it would work if we had a Labour Council in York, Conservative in the County, and a Lib Dem Mayor.

“Lib Dems are very good at finding consensus,” she said. “We don’t look for difference, we look for points of agreement. I think it’s really important to have someone in the middle who will take a good neutral position.

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