Rees’ reaction to mayoral referendum

Marvin Rees has reacted to the decision to hold a referendum on whether or not to scrap the mayoral model of governance.

The mayor, who was reelected in May this year, was critical of what he called the “poverty of the debate” by councillors leading up to the vote on Tuesday.

The full council meeting saw a majority of councillors in Bristol vote to hold a citywide referendum in May 2022, which will ask whether people want to scrap the current mayoral model and replace it with a committee system.

If Bristol chooses a committee system, the role of city mayor will end following the conclusion of Rees’ second term of office in 2024.

Speaking at a press briefing on Wednesday, Rees, who has already confirmed he will not run for mayor again after 2024, said: “The quality of the arguments in the chamber were incredibly poor. They often are, but we reached a low last night.

“No one is claiming that any political model is perfect – the mayoral model isn’t perfect. If you are going to have a debate about the model of governance that you want to bring in for the next ten years, at least have a debate that would meet the quality of a GCSE essay paper.”

The vote in May 2022 will be held ten years after the first referendum that created the post of mayor of Bristol in 2012 and led to the election of George Ferguson as Bristol’s first mayor.

Rees argued that a change to a committee model of governance compromises democracy by removing an elected leader from power.

Alex Hartley, Lib Dem councillor for Hotwells & Harbourside, who proposed the motion, told councillors a referendum would “finally give the people of Bristol the opportunity to make their voice heard on the mayoral issue”.

He said: “We know that Bristol has been failed by the mayoral system, from the failure of Bristol Energy to the SEND crisis, the arena fiasco and the list goes on.

“We are looking forward to speaking to local residents and convincing them to back our preferred system, the committee system.”

Speaking on Wednesday, Rees said the “first and biggest change” for the citizens of Bristol if a committee system was voted in will mean Bristolians will no longer have the opportunity to vote for the political leader of Bristol.

He added: “No pro-democracy movement I’ve heard of has actually argued for taking away a vote from people.”

The mayor also outlined achievements over the last ten years as a result of the mayoral model in place in Bristol. This ranged from “phenomenal” housing delivery to improvements to public transport.

Rees suggested that the focus of debate for councillors should instead be on pressing issues in Bristol, and not whether councillors themselves “felt disempowered or empowered”.

Among the pressing issues, he said, is “a cost of living crisis, seeing fuel costs going up… a housing crisis which we are challenged on and getting worse,… a climate emergency and an ecological emergency… the educational legacy of Covid, the mental health legacy of Covid, and the spectre of extremist politics”.

In the face of these challenges, he argued that councillors should ask “what is the model of governance that will best enable Bristol City Council to play its role with Bristol in meeting those challenges?”

Main photo: Martin Booth

Read more: Referendum to decide whether to replace elected mayor with committee system

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