LGP News - Undemocratic: Labour push through consultation for mayor

Undemocratic: Labour push through consultation for mayor
Wed, Nov 24, 2010
On Friday 19.11.10, Labour Councillors carried out an historic and shameful act and denied 215,000 people in Leicester a vote on whether they want an elected mayor.
 
Instead, 34 Labour Councillors pushed through a decision to start a public consultation for an elected mayor, with only two Labour Councillors voting against.
  • It was historic because the city could be run with a totally different method of local government.
  • Denying people the right to decide in a referendum on whether or not to have an elected mayor is shameful and fundamentally undemocratic.

The plan for a mayor, delayed since July, is now being rushed through. There has been no scrutiny of the decision and its implications. There are only 11 working days for a consultation, which is not enough time to inform people on the issues in the run-up to Christmas.

 

The Labour Party says an elected mayor will reinvigorate local politics and streamline decision-making. A consultation also avoids the £250,000 cost of a referendum.

 

But that is not a good enough reasons to deny people a referendum. Labour are ignoring the cost of running a mayor’s office and the extra cost of a parliamentary by-election if a Leicester MP is elected as mayor.

 

 The option facing the council is either to have a cabinet with a leader, which is always the leader of the majority group, or to have an elected mayor. 
 A vote for a mayor would take place on May 5, 2011 alongside the city-wide council elections.

 

Councillors will consider the results of the consultation on December 9 before making a final decision on December 22.

 

Nevertheless, a Localism Bill is due out next year from the coalition government, which requires people to vote on plans for mayors. What this does to Labour’s one is uncertain.
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