In our series profiling the six candidates for Mayor of Hull and East Yorkshire, we meet Rowan Halstead, co-leader of the Yorkshire Party. These portraits are not about party politics or the tired rituals of attack and defence. They’re about people—those willing to step up, face scrutiny, and offer their communities something different. Rowan is one of those people.
Shaped by The Army
Born and raised in Hull, Rowan doesn’t present himself as a polished career politician. His path has taken him through the army, engineering, and community service—not think tanks and spin rooms. He attended Kelvin Hall Secondary, briefly studied at Wyke College, and then found his footing through an apprenticeship in the military. “The army shaped a lot of who I am,” he says. “Adaptability, pragmatism, and teamwork—those are things I’ve carried with me ever since.”
That practicality sits at the heart of his politics. Rowan is not one for waffle or buzzwords. Ask him about his priorities and you get straight answers: fixing the region’s transport problems, boosting skills, and making affordable housing a reality for working people. “It’s not about chasing headlines,” he says. “It’s about solving the problems we all see and live with every day.”
Always and engineer
His background in engineering and manufacturing means he sees potential where others see problems. To Rowan, Hull and the East Riding are not regions in decline—they’re opportunities waiting to be unlocked. He talks about the untapped value of brownfield land, the chance to build industry around the Humber Freeport, and the urgent need to connect education to real-world jobs. “We’ve got universities and colleges here that can be pipelines into high-paid, meaningful work. But only if we bring business and education to the same table.”
Mission
At the centre of this thinking is his party’s mission. The Yorkshire Party was born out of frustration with centralised government and a belief that Yorkshire deserves more control over its own future. It champions regional devolution, decision-making powers for Yorkshire communities, and practical policies that speak to local needs, not national headlines. For Rowan, this isn’t ideology—it’s common sense. “We’ve been overlooked for too long,” he says. “The Yorkshire Party is about putting our future back in our own hands.”
“We’ve got universities and colleges here that can be pipelines into high-paid, meaningful work. But only if we bring business and education to the same table.”
Since becoming co-leader of the party, Rowan has brought a new, grounded voice to its leadership—one that blends policy with lived experience. He’s not interested in echo chambers or ideological purity. What he wants is better schools, stronger transport, higher wages, and fairer outcomes for Yorkshire people. “We’re not here to shout at Westminster,” he says. “We’re here to build something better, from the ground up.”
I answer to Yorkshire
Rowan isn’t shy about taking a different line from the national parties. “I don’t answer to London,” he says. “I answer to Yorkshire.” It’s a statement of principle, not branding. Like many in the Yorkshire Party, his political awakening came from frustration—feeling overlooked, patronised, ignored. “I joined the party because I was tired of being disenfranchised. I wanted something that focused on my family, my neighbours, the people I meet every day.”
He’s clear-eyed about the challenges. “This isn’t a small task,” he admits. “There’s a massive gap between what people here need and what Westminster thinks we need.” But he’s not daunted. If anything, the scale of the challenge seems to energise him.
At home, Rowan is a family man. He speaks about his wife—who teaches locally—with genuine admiration. “She inspires me every day. She’s out there improving lives, and it pushes me to try and do the same in my own way.” His children are his compass. “They’re what I think about every single day. I just want them to be happy. Everything I do is for them.”
“This isn’t a small task,” he admits. “There’s a massive gap between what people here need and what Westminster thinks we need.”
His ideal Friday night? Nothing flash. Just a quiet evening at home with his wife and kids. He enjoys long walks with the dog, a good football match, Formula 1, and, he confesses, a penchant for overly complex and nerdy board games. Black Sheep Ale is his drink of choice. Tea, of course, if he’s off-duty. Yorkshire Tea.
A military sense of humour
His sense of humour is “military,” he says—dry, sometimes dark, often direct. His sense of duty? “Unwavering.” There’s no bravado in his voice when he says that—it’s just a statement of fact, the kind that comes from someone who’s seen pressure, held the line, and kept moving forward.
Rowan’s worldview has been shaped by seeing how other countries do things—what works, what fails, and what’s worth learning from. But he’s never lost sight of home. “We’ve got everything we need here,” he says. “We just need the power to make our own decisions. That’s why this mayoral role matters. It’s the start of Yorkshire having a real voice.”
If elected, Rowan says one of his top priorities would be reinstating the Beverley to York rail line—a move he believes would be a game-changer for the region. “Social mobility begins with transport mobility,” he says. “We can’t unlock opportunity if people can’t get to it.”
He doesn’t talk in slogans. He talks in tasks. In goals. In what needs fixing and who needs backing. And through it all, one thing comes through clearly: Rowan Halstead isn’t trying to be something he’s not. He’s standing up as who he is—father, engineer, soldier, Yorkshireman.
It’s not glamour. It’s grit.
And it just might be exactly what Yorkshire needs next.
Anne Handley – Conservative
Mike Ross – Lib Dem
Luke Campbell – Reform UK
Margaret Pinder – Labour
Kerry Harrison – Green Party