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E L E C T E D

M A Y O R S

Theyll be dynamic, high profile leaders wholl get things done, argue supporters of elected mayors. Theyre a solution looking for a problem, say the critics. Either way, our cities are soon going to be voting on whether we want them or not, reports Ryan Gallagher
It has been billed by some as the most significant constitutional change England has faced in generations. Next month, a referendum will be held in ten cities across the country to determine whether council leaders will be replaced by elected mayors. It could mean that, rather than councils picking who is in charge, more people than ever before will have the chance to directly decide who their local leader is. Advocates of the reform say it will bring about greater democracy and more regional control but not everyone is convinced. Come 3 May voters in Leeds, Wakefield, Manchester, Sheffield and Bradford will be among those to go to the polls. Birmingham, Nottingham, Coventry, Bristol and Newcastle will also vote, while Liverpool and Leicester have already chosen to switch to the new system without holding a referendum. The government is keen for cities to adopt elected mayors, which it says will lead to more power devolved locally. However, critics claim they are being pressurised into making a change that is not necessarily a good thing. Im sceptical about mayors, says Professor Alan Harding, director of the University of Manchesters Institute for Political and Economic Governance. I think it would be a complete and utter waste of time for Manchester, which has been run perfectly effectively for donkeys years. There are certain places in the world which have directly elected mayors, and I dont think you could say hand on heart it makes a decisive difference to how those places function. At the end of the day its not the position that makes the difference its the quality of the people who occupy the position and how they make use of the
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opportunities that theyve got. Since the Local Government Act was introduced by Labour in 2000, 16 English towns have adopted elected mayors, ranging from London to Bedford, Middlesbrough and Watford. But the current government, as part of its 2011 Localism Act, wants to expand the system across all of the countrys major cities, with Mays mandatory referendums an integral part of that process. Im really enthusiastic about this because I profoundly believe we should be moving our country to having more directly elected mayors in our big cities, prime minister David Cameron said in a speech at 10 Downing Street last week. I know it is a big cultural change for Britain, it is a big move for us, and it is absolutely going to be up to the people of those I think it cities to make that decision, but I would be a complete and very much hope we will get some utter waste of yes votes across our country. time for Thinktank Manchester. Institute for the Government (IFG) has also backed the push towards having more elected mayors. It believes the change will lead to more funding and independence handed over to cities, with increased stability and better leadership. Mayors are likely to bring significant benefits in terms of visibility, stability and responsiveness to the electorate, says Tom Gash, programme director at the IFG. Mayors are elected every four years by tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of voters. Council leaders are chosen by other councillors and can be ousted at virtually any point if they cant keep these councillors happy. Statistics produced by the IFG

show that 38 per cent of people questioned nationally want a directly elected mayor rather than a council leader. But a separate poll earlier in March revealed 62 per cent were unaware of the May referendums, with 90 per cent saying they had been given little or no information about it. As a likely result of this, during an elected mayors referendum in Salford in January, just 18.1 per cent of the 171,000 eligible voters took part. According to Steve Connor, chief executive of Manchester PR firm Creative Concern, there is little appetite for the change in his home city because it would not offer any tangible benefit. Connor recently

Lea

VITAL STATISTICS
A report published last week by thinktank the Institute for Government (IFG) revealed that 38 per cent of people questioned nationally want a directly elected mayor rather than a council leader. Twenty-five per cent would prefer not to change to an elected mayor, 23 per cent did not mind either way, and 14 per cent did not know. The IFGs research, based on a survey of 2,300 adults conducted by YouGov, also revealed that just 15 per cent of people said they knew the name of their local council leader and, of those, around half (8 per cent) could correctly name them. According to the thinktank, previous polling has shown that in places with a mayor, 57 per cent of residents could name him or her. There have been 41 referendums on whether to establish an elected mayor in English local authorities, with 14 votes in favour and 27 against. Stoke-on-Trent voted to abandon its mayor in 2008, six years after introducing the system, and Doncaster, which voted for a mayor in 2001 and currently is led by English Democrat Peter Davies, is currently considering reverting back to the council leader and cabinet model.

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authored a letter, published in the Manchester Evening News and signed by academics, artists and businessmen, calling elected mayors a bad deal. For Manchester its a really bad option, Connor says, because weve got ten local authorities, not one, and weve got Greater Manchester, which is the scale at which our city works. If it was one elected mayor for the whole of Manchester that would be a different issue. But this referendum is about a mayor just for the Manchester City Council area, and its crackers. In London Boris Johnson is mayor of Greater London, which puts him in charge of all 32 of the capitals boroughs. But Manchester is being offered an elected mayor who would only be responsible for the city of Manchester (one borough), as opposed to Greater Manchester in its entirety (ten boroughs). Elected mayors should be for larger areas like London. They

Sixty-two per cent were unaware of the May referendums on mayors

WHAT ARE ELECTED MAYORS?

There are elected mayors in cities across the world, including New York, London, Barcelona, Chicago, Frankfurt and Sydney. Elected mayors hold varying degrees of executive power and have to ensure council services such as regeneration, transport and education are delivered efficiently. In England elected mayors have the power to select their own cabinet whose advice they are able to overrule. This differs from the status of a council leader, who is required to develop a consensus with his or her cabinet over any decisions. Advocates of elected mayors say that they will shift power away from central government, enhance the prestige of the countrys largest cities, provide better local public services and more accountability. I believe the evidence also shows that some forms of leadership are better suited than others in helping cities reach their full potential in an increasingly competitive international environment, says Conservative cities minister Greg Clark. The worlds great cities have mayors who lead their city on the international stage, attracting investment and jobs. But critics argue elected mayors lead to a greater focus on personalities than policies, will result in a kind of elected dictatorship focusing too much power in the hands of one person, and are not proven to be a marked improvement over the traditional leader and cabinet council model. There is nothing in this but a title, as it were, says Professor Alan Harding, director of the University of Manchesters Institute for Political and Economic Governance. There are limited new powers or resources available to local authorities as a result of going for a directly elected mayor.

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P O P - U P S

Fogarty: theres no hiding place for a mayor

shouldnt be for smaller areas, Connor says. Theres no demand for it, we havent asked for it, and yet its been forced on us. Last week the BBC quoted an unnamed Downing Street adviser saying Manchester would be at a competitive disavantage if its citizens didnt vote yes on 3 May. In Wakefield council leader Peter Box has accused central government of engaging in Alice in Wonderland politics for asking people to vote on something that they are not fully informed about. Meanwhile, an antimayors campaign group called Vote No to a Power Freak has been founded by politicians in Birmingham who claim elected mayors will lead to corruption and a form of dictatorship. Concentrating power into the hands of one individual makes it easy for them to do things that mean other people arent consulted unless they are wealthy people or high up in the bureaucracy of the council, says John Hemming MP, a Liberal Democrat involved with the Vote No to a Power Freak campaign. It leads towards corruption, because power corrupts the more power you give people the more corruption there is. If you think politics should be a celebrity contest once every four years and otherwise people do what they feel like, then great vote for it. But if you think politics is about policies and trying to make a society where everybody is taken into account then oppose it. In Liverpool the prevailing attitude is more positive. The citys council decided to adopt an elected mayor
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without holding a referendum after being promised a 130 million city deal funding package from Whitehall in return, including a 75 million economic development grant and a low tax enterprise zone in the north of the city. Its time to embrace mayoral politics, says Liam Fogarty, a former BBC journalist running as an independent candidate for Liverpool mayor. It will be different to the sort of politics that were used to, I think and I hope. A mayoral figure provides clear visible leadership theres no hiding place for a mayor and I think that makes for a stronger democracy. Among the other Mayors are likely to bring candidates who will be running for significant mayor of benefits in Liverpool are visibility and Herbert Howe, a celebrity stability. hairdresser, and Tony Mulhearn, the former Militant leader who has pledged to reverse all council cuts should he get elected. Phil Redmond, the creator of TV series Brookside, Grange Hill and Hollyoaks, finally ruled himself out of the race last week, after much speculation that he would stand. At the moment we have this whole kind of alphabet soup of people taking important decisions that are not visible or held to account quangos, joint boards, partnerships, multi agency agreements, Fogarty says. If the price of accountability is the odd eccentric, I think thats a fair price to pay.

WHO MIGHT STAND?

If cities vote yes to adopting elected mayors in the referendums on 3 May, it is possible the following candidates will stand when it comes to the mayoral elections scheduled for 15 November. Leeds: Stewart Golton (Liberal Democrat) and Andrew Carter (Conservative). Labour council leader Keith Wakefield has ruled himself out, branding elected mayors undemocratic and utter madness. Wakefield: Peter Box (Labour, pictured), Mark Crowther (Conservative), Arnie Craven (UK Independence Party). Box has vowed to run despite criticising central government for forcing the referendum without informing voters fully about what powers a mayor would be given. He told The Big Issue in The North: All I can say with certainty is that the present system works well and has delivered some real improvements over the past few years. Manchester: Sir Richard Leese (Labour), Marc Ramsbottom (Liberal Democrat). Sheffield: Julie Dore (Labour), Shaffaq Mohammed (Liberal Democract), Jillian Creasy (Green).. Bradford: Ian Greenwood (Labour), Glen Miller (Conservative), Jeanette Sunderland (Liberal Democrat). Liverpool One of the following will be voted in on 3 May because the council has bypassed the referendum: Joe Anderson (Labour, pictured), Tony Caldeira (Conservative), John Coyne (Green Party), Liam Fogarty (Independent), Herbert Howe (Independent), Richard Kemp (Liberal Democrat), Steve Radford (Liberal Party), Tony Mulhearn (Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition Salford: Like Liverpool, already committed to a mayor. Candidates: Ian Stewart (Labour the former MP got the nod from his party over current council leader John Merry), Karen Garrido (Conservative), Norman Owen (Lib Dem), Michael Felse (English Democrats), Joe ONeill (Green) and Eddy OSullivan (BNP).