Labour MP calls for mayoral model to be disbanded

Labour MP Karin Smyth has criticised the mayoral model as undemocratic, saying that the system of local government with an elected mayor is “designed to ride roughshod over democracy”.

And the Bristol South MP is calling for the Merchant Venturers to be disbanded, insisting there is “no place for unaccountable power in a modern city” and that none of its members should be appointed onto a public body.

In an interview for the Bristol Cable’s Bristol Unpacked podcast, Smyth said she had long opposed the mayoral model because it “breeds suspicion” about how decisions are made and does not consider community opposition to policies or proposals early enough.

A spokesperson for Bristol’s Labour mayor, Marvin Rees, said that at May’s elections, more than 100,000 people voted for candidates who wanted to retain the mayoral system – more than double those who backed candidates calling to abolish it.

They said the results showed Bristol had made up its mind over a way of working that brought accountability and delivery and that restoring a “faceless committee system” would return the city to the “dismal days of failure”.

But Smyth said committees were necessary so local councillors could represent their communities and argue their point “in order to make progress and bring people with you”.

Karin Smyth wants to scrap the position of mayor, currently held by fellow Labour Party politician Marvin Rees – photo: Core Cities UK

Asked by Bristol Unpacked host Neil Maggs if she was a fan of the mayoral model, the MP said: “No, I was very much against it when it started and I am still against it.

“The reason that people who wanted a mayoral system and one man in charge who could speak for everybody and one man who could make decisions and one man who could make things go more quickly because they felt things weren’t happening quick enough, it’s designed to ride roughshod over democracy.

“That’s what’s in-built in it and that’s what it invariably does, regardless of the individual.”

Asked whether the system “got stuff done that didn’t used to get done”, an argument often cited by Rees, she said: “I just don’t accept this premise that nothing happened in Bristol and Bristol was stuck. We developed Cabot Circus, changes to the docks and those public-private partnerships.

“If we take the joint public partnerships around the city centre, that all happened before the mayoral system.

“For democracy to work, local representatives have to articulate the needs of local people, persuade people to change and bring them with you.

“Democracy is messy, it takes a long time, you have to be in committees to argue your point, you need to flesh out early on in processes the problems, the objection to things, in order to make progress and bring people with you.

“I don’t accept that notion that by just having one man in charge to get something done then gets it done because the objections will come somewhere and it’s much better to get through those earlier in the process and bring people with you.”

Smyth said that Rees and his predecessor George Ferguson were “men of integrity” and “very passionate about Bristol and want to do the best for Bristol”.

But she added: “The system does not help them because by being a system that doesn’t have to go through all the committees, all of the transparency that empowers local councillors to speak on behalf of their local communities, that breeds suspicion about how and where decisions are made, and we frankly don’t know how and where decisions are made.”

Main photo: Karin Smyth

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