How do you want Bristol to be run?

This comment article is written by Christian Martin, Liberal Democrat councillor for Clifton East

Every mayor must develop strong, productive relationships with businesses, local authorities and councillors to achieve the best outcomes for their citizens. Our mayor has failed to grasp this fundamental principle and as a result there is evidence of creeping dysfunction in the council. I would therefore like to ask the citizens of Bristol, how do you want your city to be run?

There is no irrefutable evidence of widespread public support for mayors across the country or in Bristol, as our own parlous turnout in the mayoral referendum and subsequent election demonstrated.

Directly-elected mayors were never meant to be a panacea for all the failings of our political system but the introduction of this structure of local government has led to more not fewer problems. Power should of course be devolved to the people, but the mayoral system has concentrated power into one individual and has not dispersed it across the citizens of our city.

Lack of scrutiny

Whether deliberate or unintentionally, the mayor is for example blocking effective scrutiny of his position. Reports come with little or no data sets to support the contents or they get postponed and directed from one scrutiny commission to another, as has been the case recently with the Green Capital. We only recently learned that £200,000 of the £8.3million of public funds for the project is being spent on the re-branded website. How do we get to scrutinise the value for the city of that extraordinary sum of money when councillors are not given enough detail on what is going on?

The mayor has played up to the idea that without party influence, local democracy would naturally benefit. But political parties are a part of the local democratic process. Any A-level politics student will tell you political parties are vital to the development of a strong democracy; far from hindering local decision-making, they develop naturally to enable this process. Without political parties, the council would have little chance of representing wider society in any meaningful way.

All alone

But parties also promote democracy within themselves. The mayor has no one to consult with, no one to share ideas with and without any collective responsibility he cannot rely on the cabinet to assume that role.

Democracy can be shaped, guided and improved by the scrutiny process, helping make sure those in charge offer a better and a more pro-active service to residents. But in order for this to happen, the mayor must delegate his executive power to his cabinet. It’s all very well for the mayor to say his cabinet has been appointed based on talent, but he’s not delegated any power to these positions. In reality very few of its members exercise any critical prerogative publicly. Nodding donkeys don’t do democracy when it is the mayor who takes the final decision.

I recently met with the mayor and challenged him as to why he wanted complete compliance from all councillors bar none. His response, “I’m the mayor,” is factually correct, but he cannot demand servility from elected members and place himself beyond challenge and examination.  The proclamation shows a complete disregard for due process, transparency and is an insight into how he thinks he can assert his legal powers.  

Unhealthy opinion

His attitude throughout the meeting espoused a view that doing politics out in the open is a bad thing. He audaciously alleged that in my role as councillor for Clifton East I have chosen to, “ally yourself to some very strange people on the basis that ‘my enemy’s enemy is my friend’”. This is demonstrably not true and a very unhealthy opinion to voice.

Later he pointed out that “I helped you in your ward, I instructed and pushed the boat out for the purchase of the Easter Garden”. This is true – he did sign off on the purchase – but the inference of his remark wasn’t that this was done for the good of the residents, but that I owed him a favour. At the end of our meeting the mayor suggested that if the Lib Dems continue to not play by his rules and not agree with whatever he says then he will refuse to engage with my party. Why? Didn’t he promise a new transparency?

I applaud the idea of his public interactions through the mayoral question time but I am not convinced of their efficacy. The reason for public forum at full council was specifically so that the entire council could hear the public’s concerns. However, the mayor’s new constitution limits the right for residents to ask questions, which disenfranchises citizens and directs them to the mayoral question time where true scrutiny is elusive.

It takes a whole city to take care of the direction it is going in. All politicians can learn from you, its citizens, and I optimistically look forward to hearing how you want Bristol to be run.

How do you want Bristol to be run? Share your ideas in the comments section below.

Picture: pjhpix / Shutterstock.com