The newly elected Leeds Children’s Mayor has promised to tackle bulying, discrimination, and poverty across the next 12 months.

Sienna Silva-Farber, aged 10, a pupil at Harewood C of E Primary School, has been unveiled as the new Children’s Mayor of Leeds for 2025-2026 after a closely-fought election which saw a record 7,688 children cast two votes each.

Silva-Faber is now the 22nd Children’s Mayor, and has urged the local community to embrace diversity and fight against discrimination.

Reacting to her victory, the 10-year-old said: “I still can’t believe I was chosen for this role – the other candidates were great and it was tough competition especially coming from such a small school as Harewood Primary.

“I’m looking forward to hopefully making some important changes on the way we can tackle bullying. Leeds is an amazing city, with lots of different voices – I want to be able to celebrate us all.”

She will deliver her manifesto to the full city council today, Wednesday 12 October, at 2pm. Last weekend Silva-Faber underwernt her first official engagments, which included attending the city’s Rememberence Sunday events.

Yesterday the Lord Mayor of Leeds, Councillor Dan Cohen, congratulated his new collegue during a speech to young people in the city. He said: “It’s incredible to see so many of our young people vote in these elections this year, with each candidate attracting at least 900 votes.

“Congratulations again to Sienna and all the finalists – they are truly inspirational and should be extremely proud of their achievements.

“I’m delighted this annual project really captures the interest of children and young people across Leeds, encouraging them to have their say and recognise that their actions can influence change.”