James Palmer

In March 2018 Palmer announced he would be supporting the A47 Alliance campaign for full dualling of the trunk road from the A1 near Peterborough to Lowestoft in Suffolk. The dualling of the A10 from Cambridge to Ely, and the eventual extension of the M11 north to the A47 to better connect the north and south of Cambridgeshire are also ongoing road priorities. His rail priorities include establishing a rail link for Wisbech, building a station at Soham and delivering an interim station at Cambridge South by 2021, years ahead of the proposed 2025-27 timescales for the full station, as proposed via East-West Rail.

In 2018 Palmer marked 25 years of marriage and has two children with his wife. A football fan, he has been a lifelong supporter of Tottenham Hotspur and is a season ticket holder. His cousin is the Burnley FC and England international goalkeeper Nick Pope.

Then leader of East Cambridgeshire District Council and a Cambridgeshire County Councillor, Palmer announced in December 2016 he would be campaigning to be the Conservative candidate for Mayor and was selected on 21 January 2017 following a hustings event.

Palmer was elected Mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough on 4 May 2017 with 88,826 votes (76,064 first preferences and 12,762 transfers under the supplementary vote system in the second round), and 56.9% of the final vote. Upon being elected he said: “I am immensely proud to be the first mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough and I will do everything I can to make sure everybody is included in the future of this county.”

In November 2017, Palmer joined other regional mayors to call for the UK government to allow further devolution to mayoral combined authorities. That included public services like skills, training and apprenticeships, as well as fiscal devolution to gain some control over taxes and revenues generated within combined authority areas. Palmer is currently exploring the potential for ‘Devolution 2’ to bring the health and adult social care budget for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough under the control of the combined authority, with a view to saving money and improving service delivery. Palmer is also pressing for the ability to set up Mayoral Development Corporations, a power already held by the Tees Valley Combined Authority.

After concerns surfaced about the way the Greater Cambridge Greater Peterborough Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) was being run, resulting in the Government holding back funding, Palmer wrote an open letter in September 2017 saying the organisation was no longer able to fulfil its purpose of supporting the area's business community. Palmer would later support its merging to with the Combined Authority, where it was proposed to operate under an independent Business Board. The Business Board, he said, “will involve the public and private sectors working together closely will provide a powerful business voice for Greater Cambridgeshire and Peterborough."

Standing for The Conservative Party, Palmer was elected as East Cambridgeshire District Councillor for the Soham North ward for the first time in 2007. He was re-elected in 2011 and 2015. He was elected as a Cambridgeshire County Councillor for the first time in 2009, in the Soham and Fordham Villages electoral division. He was re-elected in 2013. He was leader of East Cambridgeshire District Council from May 2013 until his election as Mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, when the post became automatically vacant. He also vacated his county councillor role at the same time. As leader of East Cambridgeshire District Council, he helped secure the funding for the Ely southern bypass to alleviate congestion in the city. Under his leadership the council also developed plans for £13.5 million leisure centre and a cinema complex for Ely. The new Hive Leisure Centre was opened in May 2018.

James Palmer (born 2 October 1969) is a politician and the first Mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, elected as the Conservative candidate on 4 May, 2017. As a former councillor, he was previously leader of East Cambridgeshire District Council between May 2013 and May 2017. He was also a county councillor for the Soham and Fordham Villages electoral division of Cambridgeshire County Council between 2009 and 2017.