Influential thinktank calls for 'regional mayors'

A leading local government thinktank has called for cities and their surrounding areas to be governed by elected mayors with wide-ranging powers over tax, policing and health and for US-style primaries to be held to attract a wider range of candidates.

The New Local Government Network said a high level suite of powers should be devolved to incentivise city-regional mayors, with additional powers also handed to all other elected mayors.

The NGLN pointed out that only the Mayor of London has wider strategic power. “Overall England lacks well-known and influential civic mayors such as Mayor Bloomberg in New York and Pasqual Maragall in Barcelona,” it said in its report, New Model Mayors: Democracy, Devolution and Direction.

The report’s recommendations include:
•    City mayors should be able to balance their budget over a four-year period, allowing them greater financial flexibility to raise and lower council tax
•    They should also be granted the power to introduce a supplementary business rate of up to + or – 4p, with additional funds to be spend on economic development
•    Mayors representing a city-region should be given transport powers “that mirror closely those that the Mayor of London currently enjoys”
•    City-region mayors should have the power to appoint a new post of City or Area Police Commission (or appoint themselves to the role) and also the chief executive of the local Primary Care Trust
•    City and city-region mayors should be able to appoint the chief executive of their local authority
•    City-region mayors should be automatically granted a seat in the second chamber of the Houses of Parliament, “to counter current under-representation of regional perspectives”.

The authors, Nirmalee Wanduragala and Nick Hope, also argue for the holding of US-style primaries to encourage people from outside of politics to stand. A primary was held by the Conservatives for the London mayoral elections, when Boris Johnson was chosen, and also in Bedford. David Cameron has already pledged to hold referendums on elected city mayors in 12 English cities.

Directly-elected mayors are more visible than their counterparts in other authorities, the NGLN added.

Wanduragala and Hope said: “Mayors, with their local mandate, are well placed to be granted wide-ranging delegated powers to help transform the way communities and citizens are served. They provide clear lines of accountability, demarcated responsibility and effective leadership so that it’s clear to everyone ‘where the buck stops’.”