An elected mayor is not in our city's interest

Feb 9 2007

Birmingham City Council leader Mike Whitby explains why he believes the case for an elected mayor is based on spin and not substance.

THE Mail's debate on directly elected mayors comes at an important time - a Bill on the future shape of local councils is currently progressing through Parliament.

As this takes place, I am determined to ensure that the best interests of Birmingham are fulfilled by the Government's plans. But I don't believe a directly elected mayor is in our city's interest.

In 2000 the Government gave communities the option of choosing a directly elected mayor.

More than seven years later, how many have given their vote of confidence to a directly elected mayor? Just 12 local authorities have chosen the mayoral option - a tiny three per cent of the national total.

And even in those areas, the enthusiasm for a mayor was hardly overwhelming - on average, turnout in the referendums setting up the mayoral systems was just 34 per cent.

A higher proportion turned out to vote in Birmingham's 2006 local elections. Indeed, in some places people have got so fed up with mayors that they have launched campaigns to get rid of them, with petitions underway in Stoke, Lewisham and Doncaster.

The truth is that a mayor will not give us anything we don't have already. I believe the the Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition running the City Council is giving Birmingham clear and effective leadership.

We don't need a mayor to tackle crime - that's been reduced by 17 per cent since 2004, the year I became leader of the Council.

We don't need one to tackle dirty streets - in two years, the Council's cleaners removed over 73,000 tonnes of rubbish from the City's streets.

And we don't need a mayor to make Birmingham greener - we're recycling more rubbish than ever before and bringing kerbside recycling to practically every household in the City.

What Birmingham needs, and what the Government should give us, are more local powers and greater control over funding. For no matter who holds office, or what title they have, they will face the same over-centralised system that exists at present.

Some ministers have implied that those local councils that adopt a directly elected mayor will get more independence than those that don't.

If any local community in our country does not get the freedom it deserves, then that will be a scandal. Rest assured, as leader of your City Council, I am sending that message to the Government, loud and clear.