James Burn has been selected as the Green Party candidate for this year's election of a West Midlands mayor.
The metro mayor will oversee the new West Midlands Combined Authority and be responsible for strategic housing, transport, skills and economic policy across Birmingham, Solihull, the Black Country and Coventry.
Voters in Birmingham, Solihull, Walsall, Sandwell, Coventry, Dudley and Wolverhampton will vote for a mayor, who will chair the new West Midlands Combined Authority, in this year's poll.
James is a Green Party councillor for Chelmsley Wood in Solihull. He was elected in May 2014.
The Green Party are the official opposition to the Tory-run Solihull council, and James Burn is the leader of the Green group and Leader of the Opposition. Solihull is one of the 7 councils that make up the West Midlands Combined Authority.
James attended the University of Birmingham as both an undergraduate and postgraduate, and has lived in the West Midlands for more than 15 years. He has worked right across the region in the private, public and voluntary sectors including as a senior policy advisor within local government. He is a qualified social worker and runs his own small business.
James has been scrutinising the WMCA since its announcement in 2015 and has appeared on radio, TV and in the press discussing its development and raising concerns about how it is proposed to work.
He is an unpaid board member for the Advance Credit Union (an ethical, community bank) covering Solihull and North East Birmingham.
In 2009, James was a key part of the very first Birmingham Living Wage campaign, and since then has continued to call for Solihull Council to pay the living wage instead of giving big pay rises to directors. He has pledged to pay the living wage if elected mayor. James has also volunteered with Age Concern, Fireside/SIFA, WRVS, Human Writes, Oxfam, Traidcraft and several other charities.
On the campaign trail, he has declared support for investment in the least well-off areas of the West Midlands, particularly focusing on building up small business and stimulating businesses in sectors where we have a competitive edge in the West Midlands and where there is high demand, like transport and low carbon manufacturing. Scrutiny of the WMCA has been a key focus, with a pledge to set up a public forum with representatives from across the community to hold the mayor to account due to the current weak arrangements. He has also proposed a pilot universal basic income scheme in the West Midlands, and to give free bus travel to under-19s.
If elected, James has pledged to donate the vast majority of the mayoral salary to charities and to helping small businesses start up in the least well-off areas, and will only take the West Midlands average wage of £29,000.
He is the youngest of the mayoral candidates, aged 35, and lives in Kingshurst.
