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Elected mayors 'create stronger leadership'

23/04/2008

A new study has claimed that stronger leadership in local government can be achieved through giving every city an elected mayor.

A report for PPR, the quarterly journal for the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), claims that the examples of elected mayoral offices in cities such as London and Hartlepool show the value of giving each community a say in the running of local affairs.

There are currently only 13 elected mayors in the UK, with many local councillors reportedly reluctant to trigger the majority vote necessary for a referendum due to their fear of losing power.

But with directly-elected mayors in the spotlight as the London mayoral contest nears, the IPPR report urges the government to give major metropolises such as Manchester, Liverpool and Birmingham an elected mayor, so as to increase accountability and provide a stronger executive presence within communities.

Guy Lodge, senior research fellow at IPPR explained that despite the success of elected mayors in 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," he explained.

"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."

A review published in 2007 following research by the Evaluating Local Governance survey group found that the majority of councillors, officers and stakeholders believed that an elected mayor led to quicker decision-making, a stronger representation of leadership, a higher profile for the council leader and a reduction in partisanship.