THE West Midlands has the chance to be at the heart of a ‘green revolution’, according to the Green Party candidate for mayor.

Speaking following the announcement of her candidacy for next year’s elections, Kathryn Downs says she believes that the region has the opportunity to ‘take the lead again’ with advances in technology.

And she has also criticised the current target of the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) for a zero emissions economy by 2041, calling it ‘beyond irresponsible’.

Ms Downs, who only became active in politics at the beginning of this year, will be going head to head with Mayor Andy Street and other experienced politicians at next May’s elections.

But she says that she is not intimidated by the task at hand, and is embracing the opportunity to get out and spread her message to voters.

“I’m really excited,” she said.

“I think this particular role in politics can make such a difference to what happens in the West Midlands, and can help shift the debate on climate change.

“But I’m also really looking forward to getting out and about, speaking to people across the West Midlands and talking to them about the issues that are facing them, and their hopes for the future. And that is hugely exciting for me, and I just can’t wait to get into it more and to get going over the next few weeks and months.”

While green policies lie at the heart of her bid for mayor, Ms Downs says that she wants to focus on more than just the environment if she is elected to office.

One of her first priorities, she says, would be dealing with poverty in the region, saying that the region is struggling to ‘get to grips’ with the issue.

“I think there’s some real issues facing the West Midlands at the moment, and climate change naturally is a very big one of those,” she said.

“But the West Midlands is also seeing very high levels of poverty at the moment, and has done for a few years. And we don’t seem to be getting to grips with poverty as a region.

“Right now in large parts of the West Midlands we’re seeing 2 in 5 children living in poverty, which is quite frankly unacceptable. And we’re also seeing rising levels of hate crime – year on year hate crime continues to increase, not just in the West Midlands but across the country as a whole. And these are key areas that need attacking.

“So my policies really are about addressing climate change, and I suppose the deeply unequal region that we live in, and to make sure we have economic policies that address that and climate change as well.

“The Combined Authority has its 2041 target to achieve net zero emissions, and we know that’s too late – lately there’s been some new reports come out that the 2041 target set by the WMCA doesn’t take account of. And that target also doesn’t take into account aviation emissions, which will increase.

“So we definitely need to see that target brought into line with a lot of the climate emergencies being declared in our local authorities, which is 2030.”

So if she could deliver one message to voters ahead of next year’s elections, what would it be?

“I think we have a great opportunity in the West Midlands to address climate change, but also to take real advantage from it as a region,” she said.

“There’s so many opportunities that it can bring us, and I hope that as we go through the campaign people will start to realise that we as a region can really start to take the lead again, like we did in the past in the last industrial revolution, we can be part of a new green revolution, and really take some benefit from that.”