This isn’t the first time we’ve had a campaign for an elected mayor for Bristol is it?
No, you’re right. This has come full circle a number of times, usually at a point people can’t work out who is responsible for making things better and why they don’t have the power. The first campaign I’ve heard of was instigated after a deep discussion about the future of Bristol in 2004 where someone (who will remain nameless till I get his permission!) suggested we should take out an ad in the Bristol Evening Post asking for applicants for the role of Elected Mayor for the city. On a quite news day in January, the Evening Post actually ran the story without us needing to take an ad and they even outlined eight possible candidates ranging from Tony Robinson to John Savage to Dick Penny to George Ferguson (we’d name them all but we don’t know of all of them!).
The campaign was short-lived, primarily because it wasn’t explained well enough to the public what the benefits of such a role would be, and why we’re not getting very far using the current system.
A couple of years ago someone else started a social media campaign and petition (based at one of these domain names actually) but again, didn’t get the numbers to force a referendum.
So what’s different now?
Aha. Well, our coalition government in its wisdom put a little one-liner in about committing to referendums (referenda?!) in all of the twelve core cities (of which Bristol is one) for having an elected mayor. This changes everything. It gives us focus and adds a reality to the campaign that we’ve never had before. And until we’re told otherwise, we will assume that the promise made will be upheld and that we need to prepare the city and the legislation to enable an elected mayor to be truly effective.
We need to join up those people who followed the previous campaigns, but we also want to sign-post people who are interested to resources that talk about the wider issues about such a role and how we could address them.
What is the current level of interest in having an elected mayor here in Bristol?
Well, there have been two very small polls on the subject; one run by GWE Business West for business members where 86% or so voted in favour of an elected mayor, and the other poll was run by Bristol City Council which gave a 74% or so majority in favour of an elected mayor leadership model. If that doesn’t tell you that we need to bring the debate to a wider audience, we don’t know what does!
What are the next steps?
We need to join up with similar movements in the other core cities (we face similar issues and it’s madness not to make use of that enthusiasm and knowledge base). We also need to encourage potential likely candidates to come forward and join in the debate. And of course, with the Localism Act now in force, we need to lobby hard for sufficient powers and boundaries to make the role worth while. No pressure then…
Jaya
I went to the debate on the new Bristol Mayor at Bristol Grammar School, and I think everyone there (from both sides) agreed that the council is inept and incompetent, and that Bristol could be a much better city were it not for political bickering and local partisanship on the council. However, I am seriously concerned over the undemocratic nature of the post, and the process to decide on such a fundamental change to local democracy. This is a change that will see Mayoral policies only requiring one third support from the council to be passed.
My attitude is that a benevolent dictatorship is of course the best form of government, so long the policies being administered are ones that agree with your point of view. However, like in business, while you might invest in a Richard Branson run company, where he owned two thirds of the voting rights, you would only do that based on the assessed risk. That risk would be determined by examination of a solid track record and assurances based on financially binding contractual obligations. In past London Mayoral elections, the choices that the population voted for had solid track records, not only in politics but national government. The population knew what they would be getting and how much trust they could put in each candidate’s manifestos based on their well established political history. However, I doubt we will get that in Bristol, and in the absence of political track records we won’t even have financially binding contracts that the voting population could hold them to. The only person to put themselves forward so far as a candidate is George Furguson, who’s only high profile political act in the city has been his opposition to the sale of Bristol City’s stadium. Unfortunately, that is not great endorsement for these elections.
Bristol is a fractured city with areas as diverse as Southmead, Westbury on Trym, Easton, Henbury, Clifton, Hartcliffe, St Pauls, Fishponds, Bedminster, Southville, Knowle West, Snead Park, Stokes Croft, etc. Bristol is in fact a city of ghettos, ghettos that are divided on economic, cultural and ethnic grounds and linked by bad communication and poor transport links. Maybe the reason little gets done in this city, and that it never exploit its full potential, is because the conflicting interests of each community is not served by any one controlling power on the council. But the danger we face with an elected Mayor, is that a two thirds majority dictator may not see their role as improving the city for everyone, but to ensure the city best serves the interests of the community or cause that they represent. With such a fractured city and the nature of local elections, it is a real possibility that a mayor with a single policy will be elected by a small minority of the city’s population, a population which they are meant to represent and serve as a whole.
My question to the speakers at Bristol Grammar was.. should candidates stand and be confident enough in their policies to promise that they would re-instate a majority voting system on the council, rather than asking us to vote for a dictatorship? George Furguson was the only person brave enough to answer that question and he said no, because he wants the power to drive the council into action.
We are voting for a two thirds majority dictator. Whether that is a good or a bad thing does not depend on whether we need to overhaul the way things are done in Bristol, that is indisputable, but it is dependent on the quality of candidates, their reliability, their policies and what systems are in place to safe guard democratic process. Unfortunately, with the exception of knowing that George Furguson will be standing, all the rest of those criteria are unknown, yet we are being asked to make fundamental changes to the way we are governed locally. That is not a basis on which a population can make an informed decision.