No to an Elected Mayor for Birmingham (Article 9)

Birmingham does not need an Executive Mayor. Even with powers and assets that have been denuded by successive governments, the leader of a big city is still very powerful. With the present system the City Council, with European support and working in partnership, has delivered major projects such as the NEC, the ICC and the NIA. And a reconfigured New Street Station and the new Library of Birmingham are underway.

There will also be an extended runway at Birmingham Airport, the entire road network, footways and lighting are being renewed over the next five years, the metro will be extended and there are large scale regeneration projects in process throughout the city. All this and much else besides. This is not a bad record and we might ask what an Elected Mayor would have been able to add.

At present the Leader of the Council is paid around £65,000 and must retain the confidence of councillors to keep his job - so they can be dismissed at any time. An Executive Mayor would certainly cost over £100,000 and could hang on to the job for the full four years even if they go against the wishes of citizens or make a mess of things.

A Mayor could also appoint, at unspecified cost, deputies and advisers from both inside and outside local government. Even if a high profile experienced candidate emerges in November it is unlikely that such candidates would continue to come forward for future rounds when the hard slog of delivering essential basic services with little razzmatazz is more evident.

Mayoral candidates with political agendas who are put before the public will have been selected by their own party members - not so very different from the way that the leadership of the City Council is determined where the party members who are councillors make the choice.

There is something to be said for any government - local or national - having its political character changed from time to time. Given the makeup of Birmingham it is likely that any elected mayor would come from just one political party for the foreseeable future. I doubt that this will be good for governance, business or, most importantly, the citizens of Birmingham. Yet another good reason why Birmingham does not need an Elected Mayor.