please empty your brain below
Other arguments against an elected mayor are Ken Livingstone, Boris Johnson and Sadiq Khan.

Sprout Eater | 06.05.21 - 7:07 a.m. | #

Thanks for bringing this to my attention.

Vicki | 06.05.21 - 7:09 a.m. | #

Prior to this post, the only reason I knew this referendum was taking place was because I saw a sponsored post on Facebook for the 'keep the mayor' campaign. It was sponsored by Lutfur Rahman - and I'm confused by his motives, because I thought his electoral fraud conviction had barred from standing for office again.

martin | 06.05.21 - 7:19 a.m. | #

...he was only debarred from standing for elected office until 2021.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 06.05.21 - 7:28 a.m. | #

So we can trust the democratic electoral process to elect councillors but not mayors. Now why didn't I think of that before I ticked the keep the Mayor box?

If Lutfur Rahman were to stand in the future and the electorate of the Borough were to vote him in, what would that say about the electoral process? If it is broke, it needs fixing not rigging.

Brightside | 06.05.21 - 8:21 a.m. | #

A really interesting outline of the issue. Whatever happened to the idea of a mayor being a purely ceremonial rôle?

cau1khead | 06.05.21 - 8:28 a.m. | #

Here on Merseyside we are today voting for our Liverpool City Region Mayor (currently Steve Rotherham). In Liverpool, they're also voting for a Liverpool City Mayor (formerly Joe Anderson, removed by the police). Joe Anderson was a Labour candidate. His replacement for that party and likely winner is Jo(Anne) Anderson (no relation, but come on). The sooner the second position is abolished and it's returned to a committee system the better.

Scott | Homepage | 06.05.21 - 8:41 a.m. | #

There a risk of confusion amongst the electorate between the mayor of tower Hamlets and the London mayor, and people might think they're voting to retain or abolish the post of mayor of London.

Ian | 06.05.21 - 8:51 a.m. | #

I wonder who was given the most ballot papers this morning? Here in Holloway we got 4 as one of our ward councilors resigned and is being replaced, as well as London Mayor, and London Assembly x 2.

But I bet someone can beat that.

TomH | 06.05.21 - 9:05 a.m. | #

The two referendums are for somewhat different options though.

Councils can have one of three structures:
- Mayor elected by voters (like Tower Hamlets and Newham have now)
- A leader and cabinet elected by councillors (the alternative option in Tower Hamlets)
- A committee system where all councillors sit on committees and decisions are made there (the alternative option in Newham)

In my area (Sheffield) we currently have system two but with a referendum to move to system 3. The committee system 3 is sold as giving all parts of the council area a say rather than just the councillors for areas that are on the cabinet, but I can't help but think it makes decision making more cumbersome.

I agree that most people don't engage though and I'm not a fan of directly elected mayors

Anders | 06.05.21 - 9:12 a.m. | #

Let's face it, most people vote in any election without knowing or choosing to research the facts.

How else would ineffective/'corrupt' candidates get elected time and time again due solely to the colour of the Party they supposedly represent?!

Blue Witch | Homepage | 06.05.21 - 9:39 a.m. | #

At least here in London we don't have the baffling responsibility of electing a Police and Crime Commissioner. I've just looked at the choice for Thames Valley at random and wouldn't have a clue, other than being pretty sure I could eliminate one of the candidates.

Andrew S | 06.05.21 - 10:10 a.m. | #

Here in Milton Keynes we are electing local councillors and a Police and Crime Commissioner.

It has been very difficult to obtain information about any of the council candidates other than their name and party. There is also scant information about the PCC candidates. I have not had a single leaflet through my door.

I cannot remember an election where the canvassing has been so poor. COVID cannot be blamed as it is still possible to deliver leaflets even if canvassers are wary of or not allowed to do door-knocking.

MKIan | 06.05.21 - 10:43 a.m. | #

At a salary of £70-100k each I cannot help thinking that PCCs are the most pointless job introduced in years. Two of my local candidates stress their independence in text above a political party logo, and none of them has any policing or security background to assist them in the stated aim to reduce crime.

scrumpy | 06.05.21 - 11:01 a.m. | #

Same here - the only communications through the door have been our postal ballots and a booklet outlining all of the candidates and how the 1st/2nd choice thing works!

If I was presented with that referendum for the first time at the ballot box, my gut would be to keep the mayor - on the grounds that people voting for someone is more democratic than the councillors voting for their cronies!

Which just goes to show how flawed such a vote is! Which of course we all discovered in 2016.

Cornish Cockney | 06.05.21 - 11:06 a.m. | #

I've had a leaflet from both groups plus door knocking from both.
Rahman has indicated he will stand for election next year.

HC | 06.05.21 - 11:32 a.m. | #

I thought the PCC was implicit in keeping H undercover.

martin | 06.05.21 - 12:10 p.m. | #

The proposal makes the office less accountable to the general electorate. In some sense, the current Mayor, however opposing the current Mayoral system, has actually justified it.

What should be done is to empower the council to check and balance the Mayor better, and I even accept that Mayoral candidates should be from serving councillors, but letting them decide who the person is means the structure will have the same flaws as the UK Government.

Patrickov | 06.05.21 - 12:47 p.m. | #

On one hand I firmly believe in people having better representation and input into their local government. The concept of a local mayor makes a lot of sense. A figurehead for the borough - a potential to be a name.

On the other hand, there really isn't enough engagement as it is with local politics, and the existing mayors haven't really improved matters. It doesn't help that local media has been decimated over the years. But local councils are probably too small to justify the level of engagement.

And until people start voting for policies and not the colour of the rosette, nothing will change. A few years ago 25% of the votes in the neighbouring ward to me voted for a Tory candidate who a) didn't live in the area, b) didn't campaign at all, and c) wasn't interested in the role and was only on the ballot paper because the big parties try to put someone up there no matter what. That example is a Tory one, but it happens with other parties too. But if that's what's happening on a party level, what hope is there for any of this?

Andrew Bowden | Homepage | 06.05.21 - 2:14 p.m. | #

Here we were supposed to vote for a regional Mayor and a Police Commissioner, the latter being something Americans are supposed to do, choosing the one with the biggest cowboy hat and biggest gun. None of the PC candidates had made any effort to identify themselves and didn't get my vote.

kev | 06.05.21 - 4:25 p.m. | #

There certainly has been campaigning in our area. I myself have put leaflets through several thousand letterboxes.

Timbo | 06.05.21 - 7:08 p.m. | #

Just be thankful you're not American. My American wife, who has lived in the UK since 1979, is asked to vote annually typically on 20-30 positions (Federal, state, county, city, school district etc), and a dozen or so propositions (ie referendums).

Peter | 06.05.21 - 7:26 p.m. | #

My main motivation for voting this time was to vote for a committee system here in Sheffield. I hope it will lead to more considered and representative decision-making, as it did when I was a councillor (not here) in the 1990s.

When I ran a course for elected councillors in London fifteen years ago Lutfar Rahman was one of my students - not my greatest success story. Chiefly remembered by me for being the first student I ever had bring a laptop to class.

Sarah | 07.05.21 - 6:42 a.m. | #

So canvassing is not possible but they can send people around to chase up missing census forms. Meanwhile in Scotland, it wasn't safe enough to hold the census, but with the polls in their favour, the SNP government was happy to go ahead with the elections. “The Covid” will be used as an excuse for not doing things, or not allowing things, in this country for the rest of out lives. For the first time since GLA and mayoral votes began in 2000 l boycotted every “mainstream” party - lockdown fanatics the lot of them.

Kim | 07.05.21 - 10:38 a.m. | #

We had the good old fashioned local councillor drive by yesterday evening urging us to come out and vote via megaphone. You don't need that kind of thing going on when you are trying to watch Eastenders in peace.

Johnny C | 07.05.21 - 8:17 p.m. | #

Tower Hamlets residents have voted to keep the role of a directly elected Mayor.

Voters backed the current system of governance by 63,000 votes to 18,000 votes with 3,500 spoiled ballots.

Turnout was 42%.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 08.05.21 - 6:42 p.m. | #

Thanks DG, just as I was going to ask how's it going in the results blogpost!

Patrickov | 09.05.21 - 1:57 p.m. | #











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