Battle has begun over elected mayors in the big cities of the north, as well as smaller ones such as Salford where the English Democrats have triggered a referendum with a petition of more than 10,500 names. More on this here soon.
A Guardian Northerner reader pointed out the potential significance of the issue on the thread to Mark O'Brien's recent posts on Leeds' fortunes in the year just ended, and they were right to do so. But their initial reason for writing – the paucity of coverage of northern councils compared to the limelight on London's Boris Johnson – may have less appeal.
As the public consultation on the issue by Erick Pickles' department of communities and local government closed, on Tuesday 3 January, the Local Enterprise Partnership for Greater Manchester has added its clout to those against the notion of a Mrs, Ms or Mr Manchester. The LEP is the nearest substitute the government has so far provided for the late and lamented regional development agencies, so it should get a thoughtful hearing.
Its principal argument is that an elected 'Mayor for the City of Manchester' would not fit in with existing structures and partnerships, such as the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities or the Greater Manchester Combined Authority. The obvious fear is that carefully debated agreements between Greater Manchester's ten component councils would be disrupted by selfish 'Manchester-first' proposals.
This could happen with the current system of an elected council with its cabinet but might be greatly encouraged by a system which throws all the public focus, and electoral barnstorming, on an individual in the mould of Boris or Ken Livingstone. We already have their modest equivalents in the north, Ray Mallon in Middlesbrough, Stuart Drummond in Hartlepool and English Democrat Peter Davies in Doncaster.
Our nearest equivalent at the mo: Ray Mallon of Middlesbrough Photograph: Christopher Thomond for the Guardian
We have also had figures in the past such as Sir Charles Wilson, who told a Parliamentary inquiry in the 1920s 'I am Leeds', when asked what the city thought about constitutional change. He would only really have been happy if Leeds had grown to include the whole of the West Riding. Personally, I strongly agree with that but don't expect readers in Sheffield, Bradford or any of the other great local cities and towns to do so.
Mike Blackburn, the north west regional director of BT who chairs the Greater Manchester Local Enterprise Partnership, says:
We're currently in dialogue with the minister for cities on a 'City Deal' which is focused on an agreement for Greater Manchester as a whole. The Government's proposals for a directly elected Mayor for the City of Manchester alone do not align with this dialogue, which the Partnershipbelieves should be the focus of any discussion about further devolution of powers to Greater Manchester in support of economic growth."
The LEP is also concerned that the Government's proposals as they currently stand conflict with the arrangements which have been driven and developed locally within Greater Manchester in response to Greater Manchester's particular opportunities and challenges.
That said, it's always interesting and entertaining to ponder who might stand, or win election, as a directly-elected Mayor of Manchester, or any other northern city. Any nominations?
Comments
4 January 2012 8:09AM
Last time I checked, Sheffield was in South Yorkshire
Real issue is that Mr Bernstein of Manchester has always had to be very careful in contstructing the coalition for the LEP/AGMA, making sure not to take too much power for himself/Manchester, while making sure everyone recognizes that Manchester ( effectively just its city centre) is the powerhouse not just for AGMA but for the entire north-west. Difficult balancing job, would be thrown out by a Mayor for the whole region.
4 January 2012 8:44AM
Hi Bertie
South Yorkshire now but West Riding then - and forever in my mind. Anyone looking for constitutional reform models should look no further than the WR which brought Sheffield's socialists together with Ripon gentry and the woollen interests of what is now West Yorkshire, and featured local government titans such as the chief education officer Sir Alec Clegg. Yorkshire was England's biggest county; the West Riding on its own was the second biggest. Yay!
Interesting point about Howard Bernstein and manchester - many thanks
All best
M
4 January 2012 2:39PM
Just a cursory look at North Tyneside's experience of an elected mayor would be enough to put anyone off the idea. Beware the devil that is in the detail.
At the moment, North Tyneside has 60 councillors: 6 LibDems (due to be reduced pretty smartly in May for obvious reasons); 19 Conservatives; and 35 Labour. But because a tory mayor (the entirely useless Linda Arkley) was returned in 2008 at the second count (under the quasi-AV system for election) it's the tories that hold power despite Labour having almost twice the number of councillors. That, by anyone's language is the Rober Mugabwe model of democracy.
To be even handed about it, in the last decade, it worked the other way round in Labour's favour. But that makes it worse, not better. For a good part of the last decade, therefore, the citiczens of North Tyneside have had an elected mayor from the party that was in the minority in terms of electoral return. The only results of this has been to completely confuse the local electorate and further alienate them from the already failing democratic process.
4 January 2012 5:16PM
Greater Manchester was created in the local government reform of 1974 but the Council itself fell victim to Mrs Thatcher at the same time she culled the GLC. Manchester now has 10 local authorities which collaborate in the framework of AGMA. It's clumsy but it seems to work. If someone made a study they may find it a good example of a working coalition to contrast with the one we have at Westminster just now.
To have a mayor or not is an interesting debate well worth having. It is probably significant that it is a fringe party, the English Democrats, which doesn't stand a chance of having an elected majority of councillors in Salford, which is pressing the case for an elected mayor in the city.
But in terms of news reporting why isn't Sir Richard Leese, leader of Manchester City Council since 1996 and generally thought to have done a good job in partnership with the Chief Executive Howard Bernstein, as prominent as the as yet unenobled Boris Johnson?
5 January 2012 9:35AM
Hi tiojo
I think the prominence factor has a lot to do with the nature of modern journalism and not just the woefully lopsided ratio of national media reporters in London (packed with them) and the regions (a handful, albeit the BBC at Salford is riding to the rescue).
For all his merits, Sir Richard Leese does not have the Boris stardust. You would need someone like the late Sir Jimmy Savile to match Johnson and the elected Mayor system is obviously a way of encouraging that. Savile might have made a very good Mayor of Leeds in the sense of being a hugely popular figurehead (so long as there were plenty of lower profile people doing the daily chores).
Whether this sort of Ronald Reagan system would be good for local government is debatable, but it would raise the profile of cities other than London. It won't surprise anyone to know that when I was launching this post, the selection of pictures available to me (ie ones we don't have to pay for) had dozens of Boris but only one each of Mallon and Davies and none of Stuart Drummond.
All best
M
10 January 2012 12:10PM
Just seen the piece on Eric Cantona standing for the presidency in France. Now if he stood as Mayor of Manchester I think even City fans would vote for him.