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It’s hard to imagine Count Binface, an independent space warrior, becoming mayor of New York, Paris, or Chicago. This time, the Earl’s regular appearance on London mayoral ballots reflects Britain’s love of satire. But it also reflects our yearning for a more independence-minded politics.
Future results of local and mayoral elections in England are being gathered for clues about the national situation. Will Rishi Sunak face a leadership challenge? Will the Green Party win more than one MP? This was not the purpose of the decentralization experiment this country began 25 years ago.
England and Wales have just voted on a bewildering mosaic of 10 metropolitan mayors, 37 police and crime commissioners and 2,636 local councilors. Few ordinary people can say what these roles are responsible for or how they relate to local councilors. Accountability has become increasingly blurred as local media oversight has collapsed and turnout in local elections in England rarely exceeds 36 per cent, about half of general elections.
When New Labor created its first wave of mayors in 2000, it was inspired by independent and charismatic American mayors with a track record of bringing investment and dynamism to their cities. Under David Cameron’s government, the Conservative Party continued to devolve power. The Police and Crime Commissioner, introduced in 2012, was designed to emulate New York City Police Commissioner Bill Bratton’s crime-fighting success.
Now that all major political parties have agreed on the need for further decentralization, it is time to think about it. Are these new positions really strengthening local democracy, or are they simply adding layers, titles, and executive offices and charging taxpayers for the privilege?
Far from being independent-minded outsiders, many of the candidates for these positions are long-time insiders determined to shake things up. He resigned from South Yorkshire’s PCC, where he was head of children’s services during the Rotherham grooming scandal. Northamptonshire’s PCC recently agreed not to run again after making misogynistic comments and appointing a friend with no operational experience as chief of the county’s fire brigade.
Most mayors, on the other hand, are nominated and elected through party mechanisms. The narrow re-election of Conservative Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen has cheered Downing Street after a devastating night of defeat for the Conservative Party. Although Mr. Houchen is popular locally, he has also accepted a Conservative peerage, which ties him very closely to a political party.
Perhaps Britain’s most popular mayor was its most independent mayor. Stuart Drummond, who ran for mayor of Hartlepool in 2002 to promote his local football club dressed as a monkey mascot, never expected to win. After getting over the shock, he was re-elected three times and was named the 10th best mayor in the world.
It is also arguable that Britain’s most effective mayor so far has been Ken Livingstone, the far-left agitator who became London’s first mayor, surprising Tony Blair. ‘Red Ken’, who ran as an independent against Labor, was instrumental in London’s successful bid for the Olympics, introduced the universal travel card ‘Oyster’ and central London congestion charges, and succeeded him as ‘Boris Ken’. He began a project that became known as “The Bike.” He revived the bus network. The most recent incumbent, Sadiq Khan, is still awaiting the results in London but is mired in partisan politics between the Conservative government, Labor mayors and local Labor councils, unable to even reopen Hammersmith Bridge. There wasn’t.
Some mayors seriously claim there will be a net benefit to their area. Andy Burnham, a former Labor MP who has become Mayor of Greater Manchester, has burst onto the national stage by opposing central government attempts to impose tougher restrictions on some areas during the pandemic. Conservative West Midlands Mayor Andy Street has made a move behind the scenes to save part of the line after going public with his anger at Mr Sunak’s decision to cut the northern section of the HS2 railway. moved to However, there is no solid evidence that PCC reduces crime.
We need to ask hard questions about value for money and responsibility. Will mayors end up just funneling money from one region to another? As local media collapses, where is the oversight? How will the Treasury justify funneling more money to metropolitan mayors while continuing to cut spending to local governments, some of which are going bankrupt?
I say this as a fan of the original movement. In the 2000s, I attended heated meetings about Bratton’s data management and Mayor Tom Bradley’s Los Angeles light rail network. Thinkers such as Tony Travers, Trevor Phillips and Policy Exchange’s Nick Boles wanted to overthrow Britain’s monolithic central government and restore power to local people. We were disappointed to see that in 37 of the 54 locations where referendums were held, the people repeatedly rejected the mayor. Now, I wonder if those voters were right to be skeptical.
Compared to much of Europe and America, the UK is overly concentrated. It is quite possible that the low turnout in municipal, mayoral, and PCC elections simply reflects a relative lack of power compared to other countries. And as proponents point out, the experiment is still in its early stages.
I supported the mayor because I believe politics should be less partisan. Seven of the top 10 councils are either part of a coalition or run by independents. The worst regions are those where the same party always wins, and there is no real challenge to lazy and incompetent governments. That’s the dynamic we need to change. And until that changes, Count Binface may have the last laugh.
camilla.cavendish@ft.com
