Why I’m not in favour of having directly elected Mayors — Mike Hedges AM

When David Cameron suggested at the 2015 General Election that he wants “every city to have its own Boris Johnson”, was he really speaking for the vast majority of people? With most major cities throughout the world having directly elected Mayors in charge, you’d think it obvious that each major British city should follow suit; but recent events and public attitudes seem to tell a different story.

In Wales, all 22 local authorities have responsibility for matters ranging from education to social services, highways to housing, economic development to leisure, and so on. They are major service providers that supply us with key services on a daily basis. The London set-up is unique in that there are 32 London Boroughs carrying out most of the functions of Welsh Councils. The Mayor of London has responsibility for only four services, namely fire, police, transport and the London Development Agency, plus setting the London Spatial Plan.

We have already seen local authorities hold referendums to revert back to the previous “Leader and Cabinet” model after experimenting with the Mayoral system. In October 2008, voters in Stoke-on-Trent voted to remove the post of elected Mayor, and more recently, we’ve seen voters in Hartlepool scrap the position after 10 years of having Stuart “H’Angus” Drummond as their Mayor.

In Wales, the only Welsh local authority to have a referendum for a directly elected Mayor was Ceredigion in May 2004, and the people of Ceredigion overwhelmingly rejected the proposal by almost three to one.

So as well as the clear lack of enthusiasm from the majority of the electorate, what other reasons are there to be cautious of changing the status quo?

One of my main concerns about the Mayoral model relates to concentrating too much power in the hands of one individual, which effectively gives that individual ultimate say over the decision making process. This is counter to the Welsh tradition of collective decision-making as opposed to giving all the power to one individual.

Isn’t giving one person total control over these key services for four years a huge risk? Surely concentrating power in one person is not effective or democratic compared to a governance structure where power is more widely distributed? What’s to stop an individual from making populist but problematic and undeliverable promises?

The fact is that under the current legislation, the only way a Mayor can be removed during his or her term in office is by being found guilty of behaving in a corrupt manner, sectioned under the Mental Health Act, or by committing a criminal offence. Apart from that, the people of an area are stuck with them for a full term.

When compared to the current “Leader and Cabinet” model, which is used by the majority of local authorities in Wales, it’s clear that the status quo is more fair and democratic. For instance, the Council Leader is considered as “first among equals” with their Cabinet colleagues, who are also democratically elected Councillors.

As I can testify from my previous experience as a Council Leader, most Cabinet meetings lead to vigorous debates where a collective decision is taken by all members of the Cabinet, and not just by the Leader. Distributing power among Cabinet colleagues ensures pluralistic decision making, with vested interests kept in check and good arguments prevailing. On the whole, this makes for a more rigorous system and for a better democratic decision making process.

I believe that this also opens the system up to accusations of a “democratic deficit”, as directly elected Mayors will be more likely to be influenced by unelected and unaccountable advisors and lobbyists, which further undermines the role and position of elected Councillors.

Another criticism of the Mayoral system is that it ignores the strengths of the current “Leader and Cabinet” model, and promotes the culture of “personalities over policies” that we have seen in Mayoral elections in England.

For instance, under the present system a Councillor interested in one day becoming leader of their group will do their “apprenticeship” as a Ward councillor; will get to know their local authority’s services and officers; will advance through their Party group through the confidence of their colleagues, and is then chosen to lead their group, confident in the fact that they have a mandate from their Party colleagues. Whilst an elected Mayor can hire and fire Cabinet members at will, a Council Leader has to keep the confidence of their Cabinet colleagues if he or she is to continue as Leader.

My experience is typical: when I was elected to West Glamorgan Council back in 1989, I became Vice-chair of the Finance Committee; then onto Chair of both the Finance and Highways Maintenance Committees; and then, eventually, with the support and confidence of my Labour council colleagues, Leader of the Council in 1997. Within my eight years as a local Councillor, I managed to gain first-hand experience of all the major Councils services and functions, which I believe benefitted me hugely in my role as Leader.

As any individual is able to stand for the position of Mayor, I have serious concerns over a person with no local government knowledge or experience occupying a four year position with direct control over vital services that affect thousands of people each and every day. Whilst some may argue that there is an advantage of electing a local “business person” as Mayor, I’d argue that the size and level of complexity of a council is greater than any local businesses.

One of the strongest arguments put forward in favour of elected Mayors is that they can be a focal point for their community as they become a well-known figurehead. I believe that Council Leaders can be as well-known as elected Mayors within their communities. Was Ken Livingstone better known when he was Mayor of London than when he was as Leader of the Greater London Council? Is the current Mayor of Liverpool better known than Derek Hatton? Is there a municipal Mayor today better known than David Blunkett when he was Leader of Sheffield Council?

It seems to me that in recently years that the British political system has become more obsessed with the world of American politics, where the likes of directly elected Mayors are the norm and personality takes over from policies as the focus in elections. Just because something works well in one country doesn’t mean that it would work well here in Wales, and from my experience the politics of governments and local authorities is far too complex for us to put our faith entirely in one individual.

At a time when people are concerned about the quality, reliability and sustainability of local services delivered by councils, I seriously doubt that local authority governance change is high on the list of anyone’s priorities.

Also Councils have a ceremonial Mayor or Lord Mayor who undertakes a large number of duties of a civic nature which are appreciated by local people. This is usually given to the councillor with the longest service who has not been Lord Mayor irrespective of political party. If we have an elected Mayor and a Lord Mayor this would lead to confusion and if we only had an elected Mayor a lot of the organisations attended and supported by the Lord Mayor or Mayor would lose that support.

In my opinion, directly elected Mayors are nothing more than expensive “white elephants” that achieve nothing that cannot be achieved by the current structure. When local authorities across the county are facing considerable problems and challenges, what we need now more than ever is investment in public services, and not wasted investment in costly pet projects that hold very little interest and support among the general public.

Mike Hedges is the Assembly Member for Swansea East.