News / Politics
Anti-mayor campaign ridiculed for claiming Rees only represents Easton
A campaign group claiming to have cross-party support for scrapping Bristol’s position of elected mayor has been ridiculed for their latest arguments.
It’s Our City Bristol claim that they are “a group of independents and have the support of the Greens, Lib Dems, Conservatives and Knowle Community Party”.
But with less than two months to go until the referendum in which they want the role of mayor replaced by a committee system made up of councillors, they have fewer than 125 followers on Twitter.
is needed now More than ever
https://twitter.com/ItsOurCityBriz/status/1501845313354702853
In a tweet on Thursday, It’s Our City Bristol published a map showing that Marvin Rees lives in Easton.
“The Mayor only lives in one place, and so can’t realistically represent all of the different communities in Bristol, unlike our 70 local councillors.
“Local government needs to be truly local – that’s why decisions need to be made by people from across our city.”
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But the tweet was swiftly slammed by all sides.
“I am 100% in favour of scrapping the mayor but this argument is ridiculous,” said Rob Davies.
Charlie Revelle-Smith, author of the Weird Bristol series of books, said that “there are some very good arguments being made on scrapping the role of elected mayor. I don’t know where I stand on the issue and need to do some research. This, however, is one of the most ridiculous takes on the mayoral position I’ve ever seen.”
@Gashead833 added: “This is a Lib Dem graph style analysis of the situation.”
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Listen to a debate hosted by Bristol24/7 Ellie Pipe on the mayoral referendum:
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Cabinet member Tom Renhard tweeted: “It is going to be a very long eight weeks for this referendum with nonsense arguments like this…”
Fellow Labour councillor Marley Bennett said it was “an incredibly stupid argument”.
Joe Skirkowski tweeted: “Mayor lives in house = ban mayor”
“Marvin should move wards constantly otherwise where is the democracy?!” tweeted @sianieay. “I want him to move house everyday. Anything less is a travesty.”
“Wait till they hear about MPs,” added Clare King.
Read more: ‘Marvin has served as a role model and inspiration for many’
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