Mayor culpa

Elected mayors. They’re a controversial topic in local government, with many councils and councillors staunchly opposed to them. Until recently, the creation of an elected mayor needed a public referendum – most of which have been lost following opposition by councillors. Now, a simple council decree can introduce one, but if councillors are opposed, that’s not likely to happen.

What’s the next step? Probably, imposition of elected mayors by Whitehall, ignoring councils’ shrieks of displeasure. This might take place under the current Labour government or – more likely – under a new Conservative one.

David Cameron, following Michael Heseltine, has already said that he would favour elected mayors in England’s forty largest cities. This might mean the forty largest urban authorities, which would suggest mayors in every authority larger than Solihull. More radically, it might mean the forty largest identifiable cities, lumping together some authorities in former metropolitan counties. If that is the case, then every authority larger than York (150,000 or so) might find itself in line.

Research suggests that directly elected mayors bring some benefits for public recognition and hence accountability. They also (hello, H’Angus the Monkey) widen the pool of potential city leaders beyond long-serving councillors.

On the other hand, the current arrangements for elected mayors are not that well designed. Mayors sit uncomfortably on top of existing councils, often made up of disgruntled councillors whose career path to the top of their authorities has disappeared.

In such environments, where the councillor role is reduced to budgets, strategies and scrutinies, bitterness is inevitable and internal conflicts become serious public battles. Stoke and North Tyneside can testify to that.

Now, Doncaster has joined the unhappy mayoralties, with votes of no confidence in the mayor passed by the Council.

Unfortunately, this is not a House of Commons situation, and the mayor can carry on regardless (as he has done in the past). Whether or not he feels the moral pressure to resign, legally he is safe from any councillor criticism.

This makes for a very uncomfortable democratic position, with the battle of mandates, normally Whitehall v. Town Hall, now localised to Mayor’s Parlour v. Council Chamber. This isn’t edifying to the outside world, particularly when votes of confidence are accepted as resigning matters in the general run of national politics.

There isn’t an easy solution. If councils are allowed to topple mayors with votes of confidence, there’s little difference between a mayor and an indirectly elected leader. On the other hand, if mayors are allowed to stick two fingers up at the council, that promotes frivolous votes of no confidence and damages the image of local democracy. Perhaps the solution lies in votes of confidence with a supermajority – 66% or similar. Either way, the Doncaster example should show Conservatives planning their local government green paper that more thought is necessary before the mayoral model can be imposed everywhere.