'Widen elected mayor policy,' Lib Dem urges
Author: Mike Burton, The MJ - Sep 19, 2011
Directly elected police commissioners are likely to stimulate the public appetite for directly elected mayors, a leading peer has told a Liberal Democrat conference fringe.
Lord Shipley, former leader of Newcastle City Council, told delegates at a Localis think-tank fringe that rules that will introduce voting for police chiefs in November 2012 for the first time had 'changed the landscape' and were 'a sea change.'
He added: 'For the first time the public will get used to direct elections. They will ask why they can’t directly elect their council leader. The Localism Bill will have to address this.'
The Bill currently proposes 11 city elected mayors adding to the current 14.
Admitting that he was ambivalent about mayors Lord Shipley however said there was a strong case for them, saying: 'Indirect elections are less obviously democratic than direct elections while elected mayors will allow local government not to be dominated by Whitehall silos.
If you want Whitehall to work together locally then there is a case for greater powers which may come from a single person.'
St Austell Lib Dem MP Stephen Gilbert, a member of the DCG select committee, told the fringe that it was 'not the business of government to tell areas what governance structure they should have.' And unitary Bedford BC elected mayor Dave Hodgson warned: 'If there are inherent problems in a council an elected mayor won’t necessarily solve that.'
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