There’s no honour among politicians any more than there is among thieves. The Tories may discreetly admire Lord Mandelson’s pal, Lord Adonis, but they don’t think much of his advice. Not even fellow ex-SDP renegades such as cities minister Greg Clark, who has just given the thumbs down to the Labour peer’s plea to stagger referendums for city mayors. Adonis suggested a two-year rolling programme of polls, starting in Yorkshire with Leeds alone in November 2012, to allow the new system to bed down. But Clark, a student activist with David Owen’s party and now a Tory minister, has ruled that 12 cities across the country must have simultaneous referendums on whether they want directly-elected mayors. The votes will take place on council polling day next May, with mayoral elections in the autumn (to coincide with police commissioners) or a year later.
His ruling means that voters in Leeds, Sheffield, Bradford and Wakefield, cities with a combined population in excess of two million, will have to decide on the same day whether they want traditional local government or a United States-style mayor. That’s the choice. Do you want a Labour council, or every city under the possible rule of eccentric right-wingers like Doncaster’s Peter Davies, whose reign has been exotic, to say the least. The signs are not encouraging for the Government. The Yorkshire Post asked its readers “Should more Yorkshire cities have elected mayors?” They answered 89 per cent “No” and 11 per cent “Yes”. Evidently a decisive lot, Tykes. No “Don’t knows”. Except in the Labour Party. Ed Miliband’s council leaders, who now control all four major cities facing mayoral referendums in the count, are by and large opposed to the new system. The view of the parliamentary leadership is not known, or if known at Westminster, not communicated to the hoi polloi in the region. Should Labour simply oppose Tory policy in the referendums, or back more mayors in the hope of capturing the posts next November or May 2013?
Clive Betts, MP for Sheffield South East and Labour chair of the House of Commons Local Government Select Committee, opposes elected mayors on the grounds that they undermine the influence of local councillors. Most city politicians proabably share his view and would prefer an all-out attack on Tory strategy, but the urban sophisticates in London might favour a less aggressive policy. After all, it was Tony Blair who introduced this US-style “reform” to local government in the teeth of municipal hostility.
Labour doesn’t have much time to make up its mind, if it intends to take advantage of a golden political opportunity. There is scant public appetite for change, as we saw in this year’s poll on the alternative vote. And by the time voters have to decide, the coalition will almost certainly be in bigger trouble than it is now. Unemployment will be higher, public services in greater disarray and the economy still mired in virtual recession if not the real thing. Voters will be very cross and looking for someone to blame. That means the Tory-led Government.
So why pass up the opportunity to give it a bloody nose, with a mini-general election? Whatever the experience of London, there is precious little evidence up ’ere that directly-elected mayors are popular or successful. “Robocop” has not rescued Middlesbrough from the slough of despond and the less said about the “Duke of Donny” the better. Labour has only just won back power in Leeds, Sheffield and Bradford. Why give that up now, to satisfy the “modernising” whims of David Cameron and Tony Blair?
It’s not as if these great conurbations don’t have enough on their plate without the distraction of changing the system. Sheffield’s new leaders face a budget cut of £57 million in the financial year 2012-13, leading to heavy redundancies. One in ten council posts – 690 – may be slashed. The situation gets even worse thereafter, with a budget deficit of up to £170 million by 2015-16. The unions are in a fix, unhappy with job losses but nervous about attacking a nascent Labour administration which has enough trouble coping with a hostile media. Unite’s regional officer Doug Patterson blames the Government’s failed public spending policies and demands a U-turn in its attitudes towards local government. There is little chance that his strictures will find a ready ear in Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles.
Steel city’s problems may be the worst, but there are similar financial pressures right across the county, as the north suffers greater pro rata cuts than better-off councils in the south. I fail to see how changing the system will suddenly improve the economic situation, even if Labour wins the mayoralty in every city. More likely, Tory vindictiveness towards the region would be exacerbated rather than diminished. They hate it when voters reject them, and they know how to take it out on the losers, especially when they control the purse strings. All in all, I see no purpose or profit in going against the local grain. No one except a handful of Tory strategists wants a revolution in city hall. Ed Miliband would be well advised to listen to opinion up ’ere – and being a Doncaster MP he can scarcely be ignorant of the problems – and stick with what we have.
