I am a confirmed believer in local government. Taking decisions as close as possible to the people involved makes good sense and we are in my view an overly centralised country. But I can’t get enthusiastic about the current anaemic form of local government that we have. I say that having served as a councillor in Coventry for eight years and having from time to time tried to persuade Labour unsuccessfully, while in power, to reform and re-empower local government.
Mayors can make a huge difference. Visibility brings accountability but also the ability to lead. The current system provides fragmented political leadership that is often unable to control the local bureaucracy and force change. It is largely anonymous to the wider electorate and therefore unaccountable. Good councils are removed from power and bad councils survive because the electorate vote overwhelmingly on national issues and allegiances at local elections.
Local government therefore has insufficient standing or respect and as a result has not been given the power required to genuinely make a difference by either Tory or Labour governments. A majority of people in Coventry, as elsewhere, have no idea who the council’s leader is or what the council does and does not do. This is not the fault of the many good and dedicated people serving as councillors, it is the structure that the population fail to engage with.
If all is well and our cities perform as well as they can, and our councils are as effective and responsive as they need to be we can leave this unchanged but we all know that is not the case.
Mayors can do five things:
Give real leadership: Government is not just about the things you do directly it’s about the influence you have harnessing others energy resources and agenda. Presently the leader of the council can seek to engage and the chief executive can make a good speech but they don’t have sufficient weight to fully capture attention and harness a city’s energy for the collective good.
Change the balance of power within a council: The more streamlined political leadership would be better able to impose itself on the bureaucracy, force change and improve responsiveness. Inertia is a most powerful force in local government as elsewhere.
Improve accountability: As London has shown people have views and vote for or against the mayor. They develop opinions of him or her they therefore inevitably take more interest in local affairs.
Cost less: the combined cost of the chief executive’s salary, leaders’ allowances and the cost of their respective offices is considerable and can be much reduced.
Benefit our national politics: Visible and therefore influential mayors of Midland and northern cities would speak loudly, from the regions and impact positively on our currently London-centric politics.
And specific to Coventry: a mayor could keep us in the first division of influence. Leicester has adopted the mayoral model, Birmingham may do so. If we do not we will, relatively lose out in influence and relevance.
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Bob Ainsworth is MP for Coventry North-East and former secretary of state for defence
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I agree with Bob – influence and strong leadership at this time can only be a good thing. People need a strong Labour voice and the office of mayor could do an enormous amount in both raising the profile and importance of local government: a national voice on a local level, speaking out for local communities on local issues.
And as Bob writes, this shouldn’t detract in any way from the hard work and commitment shown by fantastic Labour councillors. A highly visible, directly elected mayor can bring leadership and harness the energy of the city, bring back a sense of accountability to people who feel distanced from the political process.
People don’t need a strong Labour voice.
Two words mate: Tower Hamlets.
The mayor there doesn’t give leadership. Council and officer time is taken up by his pet projects. For instance he’s spent loads of time bidding for city status. For an inner London borough. Shouldn’t his time have been spent trying to bring substantive change to peoples lives rather than make himself look greedy and the borough silly.
I’ll give you this one, the mayor does change the balance of power within the council. For the worse. Democracy should flow upwards, yet in Tower Hamlets council policy is announced with no consultation from the local councillors whose constituents it is going to affect.
They don’t improve accountability. Executive Mayors have the power to ignore systems of checks and balances. In Tower Hamlets one evening the licensing committee found that their hands were now tied by policy the mayor had decided to announce that morning, effectively bypassing the scant power they had left.
They don’t cost less. They cost more. Twice as much in Tower Hamlets (The first thing he tried to do was get a wage increase from £70k to £100k) Tower Hamlets still employs a chief executive (chosen by the mayor of course) at £100k a year. Oh yes and dont forget the mayor spending £115k on a new office suite for himself and his cronies. And his car.
And do they really benefit our national politics? Is it really a middle aged bloke shoving his face in front of a camera as much as possible what makes a city great or its people, history and culture? Visibility doesn’t make influence Also: Boris. He is a joke and makes London appear one for having elected him.
You’ve probably guessed that I think elected mayors are a bad idea. I hope we don’t see any has-been MPs arguing a muddled case for them in the hope they will get another job for life they can funnel funds from the taxpayer into their pocket now how much they pay on expenses has been found out…
Yes i completely agree with Bob, local government is almost always far more effective than central. A mayor of Coventry could be very beneficial for local people and businesses. We would need somebody with a great deal of drive though and a passion and love for Coventry. The last thing we need is another bureaucrat who just wants an important role and big car. We need somebody standing up for local issues and people. I run a small business in Coventry. http://www.jetcleandrives.co.uk/Driveway_Cleaning_Coventy and I would be delighted to have somebody help local businesses such as mine thrive and improve life in Coventry for everyone.