Referendums this May provide the opportunity to transform England’s biggest cities. Anna Turley on the debate over elected mayors

The idea of elected mayors for English cities has been a flame that has spluttered and flickered but never quite ignited. This May could finally be its moment to blaze – renewing civic leadership and pride, and enabling even stronger Labour governance in our major cities.

Referendums will be held on 3 May this year in 11 of England’s big cities: Birmingham, Bradford, Bristol, Coventry, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Nottingham, Sheffield and Wakefield. Those areas that opt to have mayors are likely to see increased devolution of power and responsibility from Whitehall, which could give them an unprecedented opportunity to be truly ambitious and transform our cities.

The concept of directly elected mayors has been controversial over the years since its establishment in 2000; popular with many central government politicians and thinktanks like the New Local Government Network but resented by many within the local government world.

There have been 15 elected mayors in England, including the mayor of London, but have they actually worked? The fortunes of the mayors are varied in terms of success, yet there are clear examples of where the model has had a really positive impact and transformed the local authority and local communities. Evidence suggests that mayors have proved to be highly capable leaders, with North Tyneside highlighted as one of the most improved councils in the country and Hackney demonstrating sustained improvement as it moved from a 1-star authority in 2005 to a 3-star in 2008.

Another of the key attributes of the mayoral model is clear, visible leadership. Research published by the Department for Communities and Local Government while Labour was still in power showed that those councils that had adopted the mayoral model were more likely to believe that the role of their leader had become stronger and that 57 per cent of the public could name their elected mayor, compared to 25 per cent who could name their council leader.

Critics claim the model concentrates too much power in the hands of the individual, and reduces accountability. Yet a mayor is clearly and visibly accountable to all voters and has a direct mandate to carry out the programme on which they were elected. Direct public accountability is strengthened by this model, not weakened.

There have been difficulties and anomalies, though. Too often the mayoral model has been brought in as a desperate solution to a desperate problem. The disappointing election of an English Democrat in Doncaster and the failure of the mayoral model in Stoke could demonstrate that where there is political dysfunctionality, any model faces an uphill battle.

Moreover, the failure to devolve any new powers to mayors has stymied their potential. The most successful elected mayor, that in London, has had real, substantive powers over policing, planning and transport, and has a clear mandate from the city.

Frustratingly, the government is refusing to set out what new powers the elected mayors could have, opting instead for a ‘bottom-up’ approach for cities requiring them to bid to government with their ‘asks’. The Localism Act gives the secretary of state a power to transfer ‘local public functions’ to any local authority outside London – a potentially very broad definition, yet the onus is to be on the mayors themselves to apply to central government with ‘any proposals he or she has for decentralising services and powers’.

Simultaneously, cities minister Greg Clark and deputy prime minister Nick Clegg announced devolutionary ‘deals’ for the eight ‘core cities’ (all of which will have mayoral referendums) to negotiate unique packages of devolved powers, from planning to housing and worklessness to skills. It is clear from their announcement that the mayoral model is the government’s preferred form of city leadership, but is likely to lead to a situation where different mayors in cities around the country have different powers over different services. Moreover, there is still a concept of ‘earned autonomy’ for our cities here, rather than a presumption in favour of devolution, which ultimately keeps the power in Whitehall’s hands.

It is difficult to gauge levels of public interest in the 11 cities at this stage. The most high-profile objection has come from Manchester’s Local Enterprise Partnership, which is concerned that the economic geography of Greater Manchester, and the partnerships that drive it, do not fit with a model which could be seen as putting the city of Manchester above its surrounding partners.

In Liverpool there is a flourishing ‘Yes’ campaign and council leader Joe Anderson has said he would support the model if it were given more powers than the traditional leader. In Bristol, the Liberal Democrat leader has attacked the plans, saying a vocal minority could impose their views on a ‘palpably apathetic’ electorate. Strong and visible leadership could have a powerful effect in Bristol, though, a city that has had seven different leaders in the last 10 years, and could well favour a Labour candidate.

Newcastle is said to be the least enthusiastic about reforming its system of government. Labour and the Liberal Democrats dominate the city council and, on his recent tour of the major cities of England, new Progress chair Andrew Adonis, could not identify a single councillor or MP from either party in favour of the mayoral proposition.

2011 was a good year for Labour in our cities – winning back Liverpool, Newcastle, York, Sheffield and Hull among others. While we have some terrific council leaders around the country, a host of new Labour mayors with unique devolved powers could really reinvigorate our cities economically, strategically and socially, and take the fight to the coalition government. The flame of civic pride could finally be about to ignite, and Labour could be its bearer.

—————————————————————————————

Anna Turley is editor of Progressive Localism

—————————————————————————————

Photo: Juan Salmoral