Thursday May 3rd is local election day and also the referendum day on whether a directly elected Mayor should be introduced for Birmingham. In the past two months I've made 20 postings written by myself and guest authors setting out the reasons why this big city boss would be a bad thing.
I hope that you found them helpful in coming to your decision. I won't repeat them here but they're summarised in the previous posting.
The question that you are asked on the referendum paper itself muddies the waters by being less than straightforward. Many consider it to be biased in favour of an elected mayor. I am surprised that it got the assent of the Electoral Commission.
To vote 'No' is to select the option: "By a leader who is an elected councillor chosen by a vote of the other elected councillors. This is how the council is run now."
In urging support for this I am not trying to pretend that the present system is perfect - it's not. I would much prefer a refreshed committee system (as it was in Chamberlain's day) and the only way to get that option considered is to resist the pressure from government, big business and other elites and reject the introduction of a US style executive mayor.
It will be close and your vote is important. Thank you for considering the arguments we've been putting forward!
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