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An elected Mayor for every major English town and city

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23 April 2008

The Government should introduce elected mayors in every major town and city in England, according to a paper for the latest edition of ppr, the quarterly journal of the Institute for Public Policy Research (ippr) published today. This would give stronger local political leadership, clearer accountability and encourage central government to decentralise more powers to local government.

ippr’s research shows that England’s experience of mayors – in places including London, Hartlepool and Hackney – has been positive. Mayors have proved highly capable leaders overseeing an improvement in the performance of their councils and developing innovative policies. ippr argues that more towns and cities with mayors would have the potential to reinvigorate local politics.

ippr recommends that Gordon Brown legislate to introduce mayors in all major towns and cities in England so places such as Birmingham, Manchester, Bristol, Nottingham, Sheffield, Newcastle and Brighton can enjoy the benefits mayors bring.

Although the Government recognises the benefits of mayors, the current system is biased against introducing them. A referendum to elect a mayor can only be triggered either by a majority vote from councillors or a petition signed by five per cent of constituents. Since powerful local government voices have opposed mayors - anxious about possible threats to their own influence - very few councils pushed for them. Where referendums have been held, local politicians have often led campaigns against them. Not surprisingly this has resulted in the creation of just 13 mayors (including London’s).

ippr argues that Ministers are reluctant to devolve powers because they fear being blamed for policy failures and delivery problems, that they aren’t directly responsible for. A visible and well known mayor could address this fear by providing greater political accountability and clearly defined executive responsibility. Once in place mayors could encourage ministers to devolve more powers to the locality.

Guy Lodge, Senior Research Fellow, ippr, said:

“Even though mayors have proved a success in places like London, Hartlepool and Middlesbrough, the current system allows councils to block the creation of more mayors. Mayoral campaigns like the current London one help to invigorate local politics by provoking interest and debate on local issues. An elected mayor in every major English town and city would give central government assurance that it could devolve powers to a safe pair of locally accountable hands.”

Notes to editors:

Mayors rule, by Michael Kenny and Guy Lodge is an essay in ippr’s quarterly journal Public Policy Research (ppr), published Wednesday 23 April 2008.

ppr is the quarterly journal from the Institute for Public Policy Research (ippr) edited by Julia Margo. Copies of the paper can be downloaded from http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1744-540X.2008.00502.x.

ippr research proposes that legislation in this area should give local electorates the right after four years to hold a referendum to abolish the role should the office of mayor prove unpopular. This could be triggered either by two-thirds majority vote or councillors, or a petition supported by three per cent of the local electorate.

The definition of urban authorities includes all unitary councils and metropolitan district councils (82 in total). There is a strong case, too, for considering extending this option to non-metropolitan district councils that map onto urban centres, for instance towns such as Oxford. ippr recommends introducing mayors into the following areas:

Unitary Authorities

Bath & N.E. Somerset
Blackburn with Darwen
Blackpool
Bournemouth
Bracknell Forest
Brighton & Hove
Darlington
Derby
East Riding of Yorkshire
Halton
Herefordshire
Hull
Isle of Wight
Leicester
Luton
Medway
Milton Keynes
North East Lincolnshire
North Lincolnshire
North Somerset
Nottingham
Peterborough
Plymouth
Poole
Portsmouth
Reading
Redcar & Cleveland
Rutland
Slough
South Gloucestershire
Southampton
Southend-on-Sea
Stockton-on-Tees
Swindon
Telford & Wrekin
Thurrock
Warrington
West Berkshire
Windsor & Maidenhead
Wokingham
York

Metropolitan Borough Councils

Barnsley
Birmingham
Bolton
Bradford
Bury
Calderdale
Coventry
Dudley
Gateshead
Kirklees
Knowsley
Leeds
Liverpool
Manchester
Newcastle upon Tyne
Oldham
Rochdale
Rotherham
St Helens
Salford
Sandwell
Sefton
Sheffield
Solihull
South Tyneside
Stockport
Sunderland
Tameside
Trafford
Wakefield
Walsall
Wigan
Wirral
Wolverhampton

In 2007 a major review of the impact of the Local Government Act 2000 was published by the Evaluating Local Governance research group. Part of the research included surveys of councillors, officers and stakeholders in a representative sample of 40 local authorities, the results of which are summarised in the document below.

Opinions of councillors, officers and stakeholders in a representative sample of 40 authorities with and with out mayors (pdf).

Full list of contents in this issue of ppr:

Beyond aid: the future of international development: Rt. Hon Douglas Alexander MP, Secretary of State for International Development
Gridlock: chaos and confusion in our prisons: Peter JM Wayne, inmate at HMP Brixton and a freelance journalist.
Is the state against fatherhood? Jasper Gerard, Daily Telegraph.
Lying back and thinking of England: Jean Edelstein, freelance journalist.
Senselessness and sensibility: suicide and university culture: Meghan Benton, ippr.
Street encounters: betrayal and belonging in youth gangs: Julia Sauma, PhD student.
Should higher education course materials be free to all? Leo Pollak, researcher and activist.
More than just victims: the truth about human trafficking: Benjamen S Buckland, freelance political researcher in Geneva.