Ex-broker boss responds after defeat in mayoral election

Former broker boss Arron Banks has responded after losing his attempt to become mayor for the West of England.

Banks was confirmed by Reform UK as its mayoral candidate for the West of England, which includes Bristol, Bath and North East Somerset and South Gloucestershire, in a YouTube video in March 2025.

Banks finished second in last week’s election after securing 45,252 votes, with Labour’s Helen Godwin winning with 51,197 votes.

Despite losing, Banks was upbeat about the result, with him telling Bristol Live: “That was a pretty epic response to be honest. Bristol and Bath should not be natural Reform territory and we aced it.

“The Greens will be disappointed they didn’t win but it was a good result for us.”

Banks career

Banks was formerly in control of Somerset Bridge Group, which used to be known as Eldon Insurance and included the motor specialist GoSkippy brand. The business was sold to Arch Capital Group in 2021.

Before this, he led a reverse takeover of listed Brightside Group, with him also serving as the chief executive at the firm until 2012.

He started out at Lloyd’s in the underwriting department working on catastrophe risks. He then had brief stints at Aviva and Berkshire Hathaway.

During his mayoral campaign, Banks said: “If I was a young person in the UK today, I’d leave.

“It’s our job to turn that around and really, it’s only Reform that’ve got the balls to turn this around.”