James Barker has been selected to stand again as the Lib Dem candidate in the forthcoming North Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner by-election. James was our candidate for this role in May. The by-election was caused by the resignation of the previous incumbent for his disgraceful observation in the wake of the details of Sarah Everard’s murder being made public. He said:
“So women first of all just need to be streetwise about when they can be arrested and when they can’t be arrested.
“She should never have been arrested and submitted to that.”
Although he apologised, the county’s Police, Fire and Crime panel passed a unanimous vote of no confidence in him, which led to him stepping down.
The Harrogate Informer reports on James Barker’s selection:
James is a City of York Councillor, representing the Rural West York ward since his election in 2019, when he overturned a huge Conservative majority to win his seat from the former York Conservative party leader.
James’ background is in the armed forces, having joined the RAF as an Officer Cadet in 1996, graduating in 1997. 24 years of military service has seen him deploy to Iraq three times and he has also been deployed in support of operations in Afghanistan as well as a number of other countries on exercises and training tasks. James continues his military service as a reservist with 7644(PR) Squadron based at RAF Halton.
James lives in York with his wife Mandy and two adopted children. Outside of work James is a Scout leader and a qualified rugby coach.
James said:
Following Philip Allott’s resignation there is work to do to rebuild the trust lost with victim’s groups, women’s groups and the public at large. If elected, my priority on Day One would be starting the long process of making sure everyone can have faith that the PFCC listens to and supports victims of crime.
I try to make a difference in whatever I do and my aim is to build a resilient, professional and diverse Police and Fire service representing and working for the people of York and North Yorkshire. I want to bring openness and transparency to its operations and make the case for adequate funding to be devolved to these services to tackle local issues.
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