Leeds North West
Wards Covered
- Adel and Wharfedale
- Guiseley and Rawdon
- Horsforth
- Otley and Yeadon
About Mick
Mick has lived in the constituency for 12 years with his wife and teenage son and has served as an Otley Town Councillor for over nine years.
As an active councillor, he has been committed to improving Otley, including initiating a flood study after the 2015 flooding, which led to the current flood alleviation scheme.
He also started the annual Family Cycling Day, providing young children with a safe, off-road cycling experience. Having secured funding, he is leading efforts, particularly with local schools, to encourage active travel around town.
Mick is standing for Parliament with an alternative vision for society: a vision of greater equality, a government that listens, and more localised power.
Mick’s Vision for the 2024 General Election
I joined the Green Party in 2013, having supported the party since 1996. I realised that the Green Party’s key policies aligned closely with my own beliefs.
Prior to that, I was an active Labour Party member in Sheffield and Tooting, London.
In 2015, I was elected to Otley Town Council, winning the poll in Danfield Ward, and became the first and only Green town councillor in Otley until I was joined by a colleague this year.
I was re-elected in 2019 and 2023, topping the poll both times. I believe that even as a single Green councillor, I was able to push the large Lib Dem majority on the town council to be more ambitious, leading to commitments on both the climate and ecological emergencies, developing Street Vision to enable more active travel and less traffic congestion, and setting up an active travel hub (supported by WYCA funding, which I was heavily involved in bidding for last summer). It’s early days, but I believe this is starting to have an impact.
I write regularly to the Wharfedale Observer on local issues and have a high profile in the town.
I have stood several times for the LCC Otley and Yeadon seat, polling around 10% each time, which has given me some profile in Yeadon.
I have done radio interviews and hustings over the past eight years and am confident speaking to an audience, having lectured up to 200 students on global education and facilitated seminars on sustainable development, human rights, and conflict resolution.
I have presented social talks on walking in the Scottish and Lake District mountains at Otley Courthouse, as well as teaching for 13 years.
Working for the Citizens Advice Bureau in Lambeth and Wandsworth for eight years involved supporting poor and disadvantaged members of the community to get their entitlements. I managed the Balham CAB and worked in a community advice team in settings including a psychiatric hospital, prison, and large council housing estate.
During the 1980s, I was active in CND, taking part in several non-violent direct actions opposing the arrival of Cruise missiles. As part of the Tooting group, we supported each other in sometimes challenging situations.
In the next general election, it is critical that all voters have a Green candidate to support in addition to our four principal candidates.
With Green MPs in Parliament and a decent vote across the country, a middle-of-the-road Labour Government could be held to account more effectively. Greens can appeal across the political spectrum to conservation-minded, nature-loving Conservatives and Labour supporters unhappy about its centralism and lack of commitment to radical policies on energy-efficient, low-bill homes, renewable energy supply, basic income guarantee, and voting reform.
I would anticipate running targeted campaigns across the Leeds NW constituency that recognise different voter concerns, utilising local knowledge and support. I am used to running significant campaigns on a shoestring, which is the Green Party way, given the lack of corporate and union donors.
Contact information
