system the councillors have a token and largely meaningless role of 'scrutiny' of decisions already taken elsewhere). This fitted in with the New Labour vision of a largely privatised local government.
And those sections of big business which contract for local government services have made no secret of their support for the mayoral system. One of the biggest contractors for local government services, Capita, stated in evidence to a House of Lords committee that they like the idea of "a strong leader who can personally commit the council making it easier for firms like theirs to develop partnerships"
The sub-text of this is of course that dealing with a single politician who can act without reference to anyone else makes it much easier for firms like Capita to snap up local government services. Rhetoric such as "being able to get things done" and "strong charismatic leaders" is often bandied about when the idea of an elected mayor is being hyped up in a locality. (One imagines that "strong charismatic leader" is not necessarily much of a selling point for anyone who knows anything about the last two thirds of the 20th century!) Brunel UNIVERSITY Demos A Network for Ideas & Action
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Capita is one of a number of companies who signed up as 'corporate partners' to the New Local Government Network, a Blairite thinktank which campaigns for modernised local government, elected mayors being a major component of this 'modernisation'. The supporting companies are a veritable Who's Who of public sector contractors, and the Confederation of British Industry itself is signed up. The links can be further seen in the person of New Local Government Network (NGN leading) light Steve Bassam, former Brighton and Hove council leader, Labour peer, and sometime consultant to a number of these companies.
The NLGN donated substantially to one of the earliest campaigns for an elected mayor, in Brighton and Hove in 2001. This campaign was backed (and financed) almost exclusively by the business community, which in itself provides an object lesson about in whose interests the mayoral system operates. The only other backers were Bassam and a small number of New Labour politicians. The Labour group on the council was split on the issue and the idea commanded little or no support among Labour Party members, and was opposed by every other major political party in the city. A broad campaign involving political parties (including the Socialist Alliance), community groups and unions, with only a fraction of the budget of the pro-Mayor lobby, was able to defeat the proposal.
In some towns and cities, however, elected mayors did take off. London has an elected mayor, as do some London boroughs. We have also seen elected mayors in other places,
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14 such as Doncaster, Stoke and Hartlepool. Stoke Council has voted to scrap its elected Mayor, although as we will see, it is a lot harder to scrap a mayoral system than bring it in.
Ironically, Respect in Tower Hamlets is picking up this idea when it actually seems to be falling out of favour. There are currently just 12 elected mayors across the country, and despite the efforts of the NGN, no apparent desire in most places to add to that number.
Where local referenda have voted in favour of an elected mayor, turnouts have often been low and margins narrow. For example, in Lewisham, the vote was 51% in favour of a mayor and 49% against, on a turnout of just 18%. This meant that only around 9% of Lewisham voters actually voted for a mayor. The Labour candidate, Steve Bullock, won the subsequent mayoral election even though Labour failed to secure an overall majority in the elections to the council—a clear demonstration of how elected mayors can wield power out of proportion to the overall popularity of their own party and to the complete
In Brighton and Hove, the turnout in the No vote was a comparatively healthy 32%, suggesting that where there is a campaign on the ground alerting people to the dangers, they will turn out to vote it down. The experience of elected The experience of mayors on the ground suggests that there is a clear democratic deficit. In Doncaster the previous incumbent, Martin Winter, was able to carry on in the post despite losing a vote of noconfidence from the council. Such a vote may put moral pressure on a mayor but there is no constitutional device to actually get rid of a mayor between elections. A campaign group in Lewisham found that there is no way to bring about a referendum on the scrapping of an elected mayor; only on having one.
There is also the evidence from London of how Johnson is using his position as mayor to drive through fare increases and make other concessions to the motoring lobby. Do elected Mayors actually improve the performance of Abjol Miah, Respect Group Leader on Tower Hamlets Council, claims they do, citing But in Doncaster, children's services were officially branded "inadequate" under Winter's rule. The evidence is, at best, inconclusive and contradictory. My own view is that many other factors affect 'performance'— not least levels of investment and political priorities. mayoral system is a tendency for candidates not from the traditional parties to be successful. This is no bad thing in itself, but often people will cast one vote for their chosen party for election to the council and a different one for mayoral candidate in the belief that they are 'balancing' one against the other. In reality the ability of councillors to hold mayors accountable is extremely limited.
Thus we have ended up with an English Democrat being elected to succeed Winter in Doncaster, 'Robocop' Ray Mallon in Middlesborough, and the football club mascot in
LOCAL MAYORS What is driving the Respect campaign in Tower Hamlets Firstly, it is true that th only allowed alternative cabinet group of councillors from the ruling party or coalition. It contains the same pitfalls as the mayoral system (centralisation of power, lack of accountability): ut the mayoral system is no improvement. Yet the Tower Hamlets Respect campaign seeks to portray an elected mayor as somehow preferable.
Secondly, Respect activists in Tower Hamlets perhaps see their campaign as a blow against the political establishment, given that all of the other parties in the borough oppose elected mayors. But this is simply because the leader and cabinet system suits them well enough. It does not in itself make an elected mayor a good
This campaign also says something about how Respect has failed to develop a consistent approach to policymaking, which i who desions it has also left Respect in the position of appearing to face two ways on this issue, given that Respect activists in other places have campaigned against this very
Respect's priorities in local government should be around fighting for decent resources for councils alongside community groups and trade unions, and against the privatising agenda of the main parties. It should not be wasted on campaigns which seek to choose one system of undemocratic governance over
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Ten Reasons to Get the Troops Out of Afganistan The death rate is rising on both sides. The 1 number of British troops who have died is now higher than those killed in 6 years in trag. Fifteen soldiers died in the first two weeks of July alone. No one keeps track of the number of Afgan dead but it numbers tens of thousands since 2001. In May more than 140 Afgans, mainly woren and children, were killed in one air strike. This is an urwinnable war. The Taliban was 2 defeated in 2001 but is now growing in strength. Osara bin Laden has not been captured. The war is supposedly about defending the Karzai government. But his government is one of the miost conruol i ue woro, Nemer ne norie occupation forces have brought any real Improvements for the Afghan people. Gordon Brown claims the war is about 3 combaune teronsm. but tnere was no terrorst threat to Britain before the war in Afganistan. or before the war in Irag in 2003. It is those wars and their consequences that have made Britain a target. Even Mi5 told the government the frag occupation was likely to increase not cec ease terrensin We are told this may have to be our "30 years 4 wal. wye nave oven ore on vears ano ae situation is getting worse. Children as yet unborn will be dying if this war is not stopped Stop the War Coalition www.stopwar.org.uk Standing order mandate I wish to take out a standing order for Respect Renewal Conference. . per month. Amount in words: . 60601051, the sum of the value indicated above.
15 The war is spreading to Pakistan, which is a 5 nuclear state, opening up the prospect of an
Level moe tenoe contied Life is getting worse for most Afghans under 6 oocupation. There is a huge refugee problem.
Corruption is rife. While Tony Blair promised in 2001 'we will not walk away' Afganistan remains one of the poorest countries in the world. According to the United Nations life esposid cy ras talen for Aignans since zuus Far more is spent on the war and the military than is spent on reconstruction. Aid meant to help the Afghans is not gotting through to mose wno need Il. 7 Britain has spent £4.6 bilion on the wars in
Afganistan and Iraq every year - enough money to create 200,000 graduate jobs annually. We should be funding these jobs, not wasting more money on war. Unemployment must not become a recruiting sergeant for the army. More troops or helicopters won't help. The 8
NATO torces are not losing because thet don't have the equipment but because they are in Afganistan. We were told that the war in Afganistan was 9
to liberate women. But women's lives have not Improved. Death in childbirth is rising. The Karzai goverment even tried to pass a law allowing rape in marriage. Despite all the talk than a third of Afghan girls are in school and less than 10% can read and write, 7 years after the fall of the Taliban. The majority of Afghans do not want the war 10
and occupation. The majority of British people think the troops should come home by Xmas at the latest. In two recent polls 56% (BBC and Guardian) and 59% (ITN) want the troops out. 231 Vauxhall Bridge Road, London SW1V 1EH - 020 7801 2768 . and the same day each month thereafter Post code Sort code:
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