Keane Duncan

Keane Charles Duncan (born 1 January 1995 ) is an English Conservative politician who was the Conservative Party's 2024 candidate to be Mayor of York and North Yorkshire.

He served as Leader of Ryedale District Council from May 2019 to February 2021, taking the role at the age of 24, making him the youngest council leader in the country.

He lives in Malton and previously worked as a deputy news editor for the Daily Star.

Political career
Duncan studied at the University of York and was Chairman of the University of York Conservative and Unionist Association for 2014–2015.

He was elected in the 2015 Ryedale District Council election, aged 20. In the 2017 North Yorkshire County Council election he became the youngest member of North Yorkshire County Council.

Duncan stood for re-election in the 2019 Ryedale District Council election. He retained his ward and was appointed Leader of the Council. During his term, Conservative councillors stated their opposition to fracking and called for a moratorium in Ryedale. He supported proposals to create two new unitary authorities for York and North Yorkshire but stood down as Leader in protest at proposals to increase Council Tax.

In 2022, he was elected for the Norton-on-Derwent division of the new, unitary North Yorkshire Council. He was subsequently appointed to North Yorkshire County Council's Executive with responsibility for highways and transportation, a role he continued to hold at North Yorkshire Council.

Duncan was selected by the Conservative Party as its candidate in the May 2024 election for Mayor of York and North Yorkshire.

Duncan took a novel approach to campaigning, carrying out a tour of North Yorkshire, aiming to visit 1,000 communities in 100 days. His policy of nationalising the Grand Hotel in Scarborough raised some concerns over its feasibility, and how conservative the threat of compulsory purchase was. In response, Duncan announced that a new Mayoral Development Corporation would be established with the legal powers to seize the hotel from Britannia, then to deliver the necessary private sector investment for the plan to work. His campaign was highlighted as a new example of policies made for simple communication on social media, although this made accountability from traditional media outlets difficult.