Place should still trump politics in this year’s Mayoral elections
With one week to go until the next Mayoral election – including two new mayoralties – the role of the mayor should still be much more about place than about party affiliation.
With one week to go until the next Mayoral election – including two new mayoralties – the role of the mayor should still be much more about place than about party affiliation.
There are four Mayoral elections taking place next week – two existing mayoralties (Cambridgeshire & Peterborough and West of England) and two new ones (Hull & East Yorkshire and Greater Lincolnshire).
The mainstream media coverage, to the extent there has been any, ahead of the elections has mostly focused on the politics. This is understandable, although disappointing, and tends to downplay the significance and seriousness of the mayoral role.
They are big and important roles that directly influence the lives of millions of people across England. For example, the mayors of Greater Manchester and West Midlands cover nearly six million people, have budgets of £2.6 billion and £1.2 billion respectively and have responsibility for a wide range of services including transport (buses), skills and housing. In practice, this means: establishing the Bee Network and taking control of the buses in Greater Manchester; capping bus fares at £2 in West Yorkshire initially and other places afterwards; using unspent Apprenticeship Levy money to boost training provision for young adults in Liverpool City Region; and, albeit with some controversy, repurposing derelict steel works into a green energy hub in Tees Valley.
First, it requires mayors to be focused on delivery, not only on political grandstanding and opining. Yes, there is an important role for the mayor to be the figurehead for their place. As our polling last year in places that were electing mayors at the time shows, this is a role that many of the existing mayors – particularly Sadiq Khan, Andy Burnham and Ben Houchen – have performed very well. But people also expect them to deliver services that improve their areas and to act particularly on issues around housing, transport and skills.
People want their mayors to do more. There is clear support amongst the people living in these areas for mayors to have more control and influence over these services and others.
Second, it also requires mayors to put place before politics. As our polling shows, half of the people polled said they would vote for the candidate over party compared to 34 per cent in the general election. The Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham has often argued that the mayor is much more about place than about party affiliation, with mayors trying to improve their place irrespective of their political affiliations. Being able to put place before politics also partly explains why Ben Houchen (and Andy Street almost) was able to comfortably retain his mayoralty just a couple of months before the Conservative Party was trounced in last year’s general election.
As people go the polls next week – at least, I hope they do, I’m slightly worried that they won’t as average turnout in last year’s mayoral elections was only 30 per cent – I hope they vote for the person that they think will do the best job for their place, not just the person wearing the appropriately coloured rosette.
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