Cutting free from the mayoral chain Local government and communities minister Ruth Kelly seems to have plumped for pushing directly-elected mayors, just as the public mood begins to move the other way. Residents in Doncaster are following the lead of their counterparts in Lewisham and Stoke by launching a campaign to remove the town’s elected mayor, Martin Winter. The view in local government appears to be mixed about the value of elected mayors, but campaigners in Doncaster, Lewisham have been riled by a system they feel facilitates the introduction of the new system, but frustrates efforts to remove it. Local people are clearly confused about how they can return to the old system of a cabinet-led council, if that is the majority view. In Lewisham, campaigners have discovered they cannot reverse the system until the end of the current four-year mayoral term. If a referendum was triggered by 5% of the electorate, and the voters came out against the mayoral system, the mayor could see out his or her term – albeit as the epitome of a lame duck leader. The truth is, the Government probably didn’t give much consideration as to how the system could be reversed, and ministers will have had no inclination to see the public bin their flagship policy. But this will just fuel the view that Whitehall is trapping pliable councils into a system, despite talking a good game about wanting local communities to lead the town hall revolution in whatever direction they desire. On top of this, the sight of campaigners furiously struggling to wriggle out of a mayoral system they no longer want will not help the cause of those bidding to introduce elected mayors in areas such as Liverpool. England has just 13 elected mayors and Wales none, showing public apathy to the idea is almost as strong as that towards elected regional assemblies. If the Government seriously wants the public to engage in local democracy, it needs to provide clear exit strategies so residents don’t feel they are driving a car which only turns left. Until it does, the danger is the public will only engage when they are furious at what they have been lumbered with.
