Bristolians will be give the choice

from North Bristol Direct Local Magazine May 2022

Landlords on boarding

5th May Bristolians will be given the choice on how we want our city to be governed

On 5th May Bristolians will be given the choice on how we want our city to be governed. The choice is between having a mayor, directly elected by you, or governance by committees of cross-party councillors – giving up your right to elect our city’s leader. With a mayor, your vote decides the city’s political direction. Mayors are accountable to you, the public, and can only be hired or fired by you. They are a visible, well-known, accountable leader tasked with responsibility for the whole city and promoting Bristol at home and abroad. They give the city a clear focal point for interactions with the government, businesses, unions, charities, and so on.

The question being asked in this referendum is essentially: do you want to elect your city’s leader, or do you want councillors to appoint one of themselves to run the council on a day-to-day basis? You may not have voted for either of Bristol’s mayors, but the key point is that you have the opportunity to vote them out. You have direct control over the city’s future.

This is in stark contrast to the proposed committee system, where councillors would govern the council in cross-party committees. This was the system used in the UK until the late 1990s, when it was abolished for being slow, inaccessible, and unaccountable. If we go back to it, you can expect a deadlocked council with squabbling councillors unable to agree on anything. The 2020s are such an important decade for Bristol. We are faced with housing and climate crises, the highest inflation in thirty years, and a skyrocketing cost-of-living. We, as a city, won’t be able to properly address these issues if even the most minor policy decisions have to be accepted by all five of the council’s political parties. Such weak governance arrangements would lead to councillors shirking responsibility for tough decisions, blaming everyone but themselves for bad ones, and ambitious policies being watered down until they’re acceptable to everyone.

A mayor is elected on clear pledges, has the ability to deliver them, and is held to account on those pledges by the public. The Government has already said that it prefers dealing with elected mayors. In a time when the government is still giving precious little funding to councils, this means Bristol will likely get more grants and investment to spend on our city if we keep the mayor and reject the committee system. The mayoral system isn’t perfect, but it is the only system that gives you a direct say in your city’s leadership. Don’t give up your vote. Vote for a mayoral system on 5th May. Don Alexander, Bristol City Council Labour and Co-op councillor for Avonmouth & Lawrence Weston ward. Cabinet Member for Transport. Tel: 07914 385321 Twitter: @BristolDon Facebook: Labour in Avonmouth & Lawrence Weston Ward. Email cllr.donald.alexander@bristol.gov.uk

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