Former MEP will stand in next year’s county council elections

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FORMER South West MEP Molly Scott Cato will stand in next year’s Gloucestershire County Council elections.

The professor of economics and 2019 General Electiongreen Party candidate for Stroud was selected last week to replace councillor Eva Ward for the authority’s Central Stroud ward.

She represented the South West as an MEP between 2014 and 2020.

Ms Scott Cato came third in last year’s general election in Stroud, losing to Conservative candidate Siobhan Baillie by 26,628 votes.

She said she will work “tirelessly” to improve transport systems, including reopening Bristol Road Railway Station in Stonehouse.

The Central Stroud ward has been held by the Green Party for more than a decade.

Voters are expected to go to the polls in May 2021 for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic paused local elections earlier this year.

Ms Scott Cato said: “There is still so much to be done. If elected, I will work tirelessly to improve our transport systems, including reopening Stroudwater Station in Stonehouse for a direct rail route for us to the heart of Bristol.

“I will also work to ensure there is an effective local track-and-trace system to protect our communities from the deadly coronavirus.

“Sadly, we are about to face one of the worst recessions for a century, and our great local businesses need someone with my economics experience to represent them.

“We must channel investment locally into the sectors that can also help us to address the climate emergency, as well as training people for the green jobs that such investment will create.”

Ms Ward, 70, the current councillor for Central Stroud, has already said she won’t stand for re-election in order to make way for “someone with fresh energy and ideas”.

Meanwhile, long-standing Labour councillor and the current Labour group leader Lesley Williams has been deselected by the local party.

The Stonehouse councillor, who was awarded an MBE for her service to local government, has been a county councillor since 2001 and the Labour leader for 10 years but will not feature in next year’s local election.

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