THE HONEYMOON period is over for the councils that were elected in May 2011, and the electoral euphoria of change has subsided more than the properties on Crystal Road.
Whilst some residents are over the moon with their council, many residents have been left with a four year hangover; perhaps what was promised has not materialised, perhaps the change they hoped for has failed to materialise and their appetite for politics has been dealt yet another blow.
What happens now for these people? Residents’ hands are tied and everyone is set to be dragged through another sea of spin, failures and obscene wastage of taxpayers’ money. And there’s nothing anyone can do about it, because the council are only interested in the residents when votes are to be had.
Enter the Local Government Act 2000
In 2000, the Labour government introduced the Local Government Act, which proposed three forms of executive for local authorities in a move to try and separate the decision-making executive from the back-bench councillors.
- Directly elected mayor with a cabinet consisting of two of more councillors appointed by the mayor
- Indirectly elected leader and cabinet – a councillor would be elected as leader of the executive by the full council, and would then appoint a cabinet of two or more councillors
- Directly elected mayor with council manager – the mayor would be directly elected but the council manager would be appointed by full council
Most authorities use the second option, however, the Local Government Act allows local authorities to hold a referendum if they believe local people are hankering for a directly elected mayor. It is unfortunately quite unlikely that this will ever happen because no council leader is going to want to give up power.
Thankfully it’s not the only way to get a referendum.
If 5% of registered voters in a sphere of authority sign a petition demanding a referendum, it must happen.
It is possible for the Secretary of State to determine the question asked by the referendum; the amount of publicity allowed for the referendum; the amount a council can spend on a referendum; where, when and how the votes shall be collected and how the votes are counted.
It’s a common misconception that having an elected mayor would do away with those pesky councillors who don’t seem to do very much and still claim lots of expenses. In an elected mayor scenario, the mayor would lead a cabinet comprising of a hand-picked selection of councillors, and there would still be the same number of ‘back-bench’ councillors.
In effect, it’s exactly the same as having a council leader and cabinet; the only difference is that the people can elect the leader rather than the most dominant party appointing their own leader and their own cronies into positions of power. It could therefore be said that an elected mayor better represents the borough than any other leadership scenario, though there may still be an issue of cronyism.
Another benefit is that the elected mayor would have to appeal to the whole borough, rather than focusing their attention on particular wards for political reasons. A successful elected mayor would be a Fairness Commission within themselves, because if they weren’t, they’d be voted out.
Only one elected mayor referendum can be held in any 5-year period, so it is important not to waste the opportunity should it arise. Collecting the signatures is easy, but winning the referendum isn’t.
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have only two words to say about elected mayors – Boris Johnson – nuff said
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Well I have two words to say about council leaders. Peter Callow. In a couple of years I – and you – might well besaying Simon Blackburn as well. Nuff said?
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Let’s get amongst it then and thwart the bolsheviks. Count me in.
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Good article Phil, I definitely think it could be away forward if we could take the politics out of decision making, maybe we would see a better Blackpool, especially if an independent business person who knows all about making money go further, cutting the waste out of the council budgets, and seeing a way of improving services at the same time, and they were willing to put themselves up for election.
One thing for sure, present councillors need not apply as I would not support any of them for this position, no matter what party they belong to as we have had nothing but decline with the Labour and Tory led administrations over the last decade. I would certainly throw my support behind it to get a referendum if we do not start to see vast changes in the way Blackpool is being run soon, and I think it would be easily achievable to secure the votes needed.
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On the downside, you run the risk of Simon Blackburn winning the election, getting paid twice as much as hes on now and having even more power!
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or Peter or Mad Maxine Callow getting in,lol screwed either way, or even STEVE WEAVER,are you sure you want a mayor now Phil? lol Perhaps we could have a rule thats says previous leaders of the council or previous mps are not allowed.Somebody young and from elsewhere would be a good start imho,someone who doesnt suffer from the inward parochial mindset obsessing with tourism disease that plagues local councils.Someone from the CBI would be ok imho,bringing business acumen to the town.
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It’s a risk Harold but how bad could it be?
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Weaver is back working in Blackburn, so no danger there besides he wouldnt get voted in, not in this town.
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thats good news,still think a CBI member would be good or ex CBI,someone with the business acumen to turn round the town.
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what exactly do we need to do and how do we go about it. I will ask my buddies in London for any tips. Keep me posted this is something we could discuss when we meet drop me a line if you can make any of the dates, had a few replies so far but would like a few more.
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This is the answer I got from one of my buddies in London.
Answer for Kate
The last government passed legislation enabling local populations the oppurtunity to directly elect a Council leader (the mayor).
Local councillors would still be elected but their function would be one of representation and scrutiny only;the majority group would not select the council leader or committee chairmen/portfolio holders.
The debate was that the new system of direct election of one accountable decision making person would improve democracy,it is considered to be a form of direct democracy.
In order to have a borough wide referendum on whether or not there should be a decision making mayor it is necessary to petition the council with the signatures of 5% of the electorate.
Apart from London the place where the new system has been newsworthy is Doncaster,until the last week when Salford became inline for the new system.
Whilst the new system could circumvent cronyism it is not without weaknesses,eg a loony left Labour Council like Salford could return a loony left Labour Mayor but with even more powers and without a system to challenge policy,only a system to scrutinise expenditure and procedures.
The Salford initiative was a result of local community and campaigning groups.The only political group campaigning for the new system was English Democrats,NW Chairman Steven Morris,national Chairman Robin Tilbrook tel 0207 242 1066.An example of their literature calling for the new system of council leadership and explaining the case for it is on http://www.englishdemocratsnw.org/document .
Best Wishes,
Christopher Forster BNP
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I would put my name down for collecting signatures with addresses after all it didnt take long to get round the Waterloo wards and the Highfield wards before. I think I would want something a bit more air tight than the explanation in the post though, after all, there is a lot of dead wood to get rid of. We need new blood in the corridors of power, I am not against everyone who is over 65 being removed from power after all they have the experience and knowledge to pass onto the new shoots. We need impartiality and I dont feel we have that, to me it looks like there is a clique in every party, that when challenged they circle the wagons and go after who ever is challenging them, instead of considering that someone else might be right in their assessment of a situation. As a town we can no longer afford to have narrow minded ( or single minded ) people in control, who think its my way or the highway.
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You’ll never get true impartiality, you can’t expect people to have no outside interests, and I’m not sure you can simply say anyone over age X should not be allowed to be a councillor. Some people, even octogenarians, can still have a sharp mind full of relevant ideas.
That said, I can’t really see how the councillors who are in full time care, are immobile and can barely even speak are legitimate representatives of people. The sad thing is, most voters probably don’t even know the predicament of their councillors, because according to the council’s website, certain councillors are eternally youthful.
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Ah! well at least you got my drift, you stated the case better than I did.
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, I am not against everyone who is over 65 being removed from power
Have you considered moving to somewhere more utilitarian? North Korea or Burma, perhaps?
That really is one of the most astounding feats of logic I’ve read in the comments here!
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I am not against everyone who is over 65 being removed from power
I don’t think thats a stupid comment. Its no more silly then saying “women should stay at while man some go to work” no stop that is silly, aright try this “ women aren’t intelligent enough to vote” no thats another stupid comment. I give up I am not against everyone who is over 65 being removed from power is a moronic comment.
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Anyone who votes for a mainstream party member should think again,they are all bankrupt and inept, I do like the English Democrat mayor though, hes very anti PC etc.Blackpool needs a mayor who has a strategic business background with an education in economics, say an Msc,who will have a team of like minds forming a de facto triumvurate,someone who is ruthless and will sweep away the cretins like ormand,cross ,Donellon etc like flies, and stamp on numerous councillors cos thats what they are, flies.Someone who is not frightened to wield power for the benefit of the town and has the will vision and courage to undo decades of mismangement.Soemeone who is NOR fromthe area who is impartial and willing to cahnge cousre away from this toursim shite that the councillors obsess about.In short, an effective dictator but one who has the economic well being of the town as their no 1 priority.That means no more money to the money pits like grange park,mereside etc,NOTHING.They are a waste of space as well as money.Someone who will appoint officers who are economics graduates for example and put them on a basic salary with performance pay.Lest satrt having intelligent educated people who are hungry to improve the town,fresh faces with fresh ideas.Blackpools problems will never go away unless we have someone who is radical, ruthless and READY to do whatever is necessary to clean up the town with a forecefull uncompromising personality ready to sweep away the dross thats accumulated over the years.
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In principal I think there is nothing wrong with your above post however some questions come to mind.
You want someone who will take over all of Blackpool activities, who is highly educated and a proven track record someone who will live and breath Blackpool. They are out there, there is a lot of ambition people out who will work themselves to death to succeed, but they will want paying.
My little corner of the company I worked for turned over £11 million last month (a small bit more then normal) but over the year my budgetary responsibility is £95 million about the same as Blackpool I hitting 270 this year ( my company thinks I am doing a good job I have got 7% pay raise and full bonus only person of my grade in the northern region that has). I say all this because I have a degree in economics and have a proven record of running and controlling a large budget, so the person you want Harold will want £270,000 salary which is a lot of money for a popularity contest considering you don’t know who will win at the end of it.
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I was merely looking at the percentage of councillors in Blackpool who seem to have a carte blanche attitude when it comes to spending our money on non innovative ideas for drawing in the tourists. I have no qualms in naming people who I feel should no longer be in a postion to spend our money unwisely again, after all, the places speak for themselves. Maxine Callow over 65 and her Ghost whatever it was, Lily Henderson almost 80 , Peter Callow 73 the comedy carpet crap, the wedding chapel ..need I go on. If you are happy to keep this calibre of councillor in then why go for a mayor? I was in the process of posting comments privately and continued my comments into this post , I stand by my comments.
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I am glad you stand by your comments Kate, not quite sure that means anything but good for you. I do think the conservative council of yesteryear in Blackpool was rubbish but I think that was to do with councillors and not their age, how old were the Fowlers were they good councillors? Harold thinks the ED mayor is a good mayor but he is 65 next year will he suddenly become a bad mayor? I think there are many reasons why people shouldn’t be councillors but I don’t think age is one of them, I would go as far as saying people who do so amazing lack of respect for older people and the older generation opinions.
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You seem to miss the point for some reason, its not about EVERYONE over the age of 65, I thought I had made my point clear, obviously not. Just so you can grasp my meaning fully. I AM AGAINST people such like the Callows, Steve Weaver( under 65 ), Helen France ( under 65 ), Ms Henderson the Fowlers etc to name but a few and anyone else who thinks they can waste Blackpool rate payers money, plus any monies that comes to the town under a grants/scheme etc, who do not consider spending it wisely. Their record speaks for itself, you can only judge someones performance by their past deeds, and I personally think, I have seen quite enough of their bad judgement, whether it be for example, selling a property of IMHO “questionable value”, contracts that are a done deal, innovations that bring no return in monetary value to the people of Blackpool, farcical projects agreed to at a “no expense spared” blase attitude, to offer just a few of my issues. As for your throw away line that I lack respect for older people, I take every individual as I find them, and give respect where it is due. I happened to care deeply for the elderly, most of whom deserve our respect. I take exception to your inference that I care less. Nothing could be further from the truth. Most of them dont have an axe to grind, or a party to toe the line for, they do not have the luxury of a paypacket that will secure their standard of living on any cock up they make at someone elses expense. Now do you understand my comments, it is neither a personal or Party issue, if Labour members had acted in a similar manor I would have the same issues with any of them.
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I am not against everyone who is over 65 being removed from power
so you are now saying you are no longer standing by this statement. So you agree that it is a silly statement, I glad about that because I still feel people who feel this way have no respect for the older generation.
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the clue is in the “not” Sherlock
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“I am NOT against everyone who is over 65 being removed from power “
Which means if a law was past saying that people over 65 are no longer allowed to hold public office you would have no problem with it and wouldn’t be bothered to sign a petition to stop this law. I think people with this view show a marked disrespect for people over 65.
“I am against everyone who is over 65 being removed from power”
Means if the above law was past you would oppose it and hope to reverse it.
Yours
Sherlock
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if you say so it must be true.
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No no no Kate of I am wrong please explain why?
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we need someone who will look at Blackpool as a buisness and run it as one,no more DSS spongers moving here to make slumlords rich,someone who will use either the public or private sector or both to get the job done,diversify the economy, we need someone who is very heavy on economics.I would love to see a phd thesis done on the town (any done already???) and the author given the job and power to ruthlessly turn the town round, anything less than radical measures is not enough.Tinkering with tatbot gateways and wedding sheds isnt worth a piss, we need radical maesures boldness and vision,cos 10 yaers from now we will betaking about the same issues all beit with new fuckin council offices.Someone who will sack at stroke of a pen the doneelons,crosses and ormands and bring in people on a basic wage of 25k and then bobus/performance pay linked to investment, the more money they bring in,the greater their pay.Big money to those who deliver big results, no problem with that,its money well spent, not on shitty wedding sheds and fucked up shared space shite.
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In considering the necessities of an elected Mayor, It is very interesting to see the comparison between Kate and Harold, Kate opts for new blood and Harold wanting someone ruthless with a PHD.
You only need to look at the present and recent past to see that’s actually what we have in Blackpool. The Labour party are new blood as they have rarely been in power in Blackpool and the likes of Weaver’s bully boy tactics have been nothing but ruthless and bloody minded.
If we look Nationally and even world wide we see it is the so called academic elite who have destroyed financial markets and the lives of many by their greed and stupidity. We live in a world where the have’s and the have nots are getting wider apart and when people feel they have nothing left to lose; you get civil disobedience and anarchy; early signs of this were being played out across the UK last year. No matter what you opinion about young people and last years riots; It happened!
An elected Mayor needs to bring balance and stability to the professional workers and political thinkers to ensure decisions are taken with the best interest of all in mind. They would need to have Confidence, Charisma, Conscience, Compassion, Capability and Care.
But wait a minute, Processes are! in place to ensure impacts are assessed and consultation and consideration is applied to policies and procedures. but the policing of them is in the hands of the general public; therefore We! should be asking questions; We! should be demanding accountability and We! should be more involved in what our Councillors and our work force do on our behalf; because We! elected those representatives.
Remember that political parties do not win elections; they lose them because we shut up and put up.
Our problem is; we are not considered to have any of the “C’s” above yet we are the most important part of this town; we are! its COMMUNITY; Whether we make money, earn money or receive it as a benefit; We! all need to be considered; therefore I would consider our elected Mayor to be someone from the Community, someone who has some; not all of the C’s but someone who is Fair with decisions, Firm with disruptions and Friendly not only to tourists but to residents as well.
So long as we don’t end up with an even bigger C!
Here endeth the sermon.
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Labour aren’t really new blood in a political sense, though they probably are moreso in terms of age. By your definition, Peter Callow would have been new blood, because he came to power after many years of Labour. I find it difficult to refer to a person born in 1939 as new blood in any sense though.
Nit picking aside, I agree with what you write, Fred!
We’ve seen successive councils who are only interested in pushing their party political agenda, but who should be surprised by that? They are, after all, party political people. You only have to look at Ken Livingstone or Boris Johnson.
The major benefit of having an elected mayor is not that they wouldn’t be influenced by party politics – they would be – but that the whole town would have a say on who was the mayor.
For instance, this time round the only people who had a say on whether Simon Blackburn would be the council leader were residents in Brunswick; probably not even 5% of Blackpool’s population.
It would be naïve to think that if there was an elected mayor referendum tomorrow that Simon Blackburn would somehow be “got rid of”. He would probably be the mayor, because what alternatives would there be? Peter Callow?!
Trying to trigger an elected mayor referendum without a good candidate ready to campaign for the job would be pointless, because the battle would simply be between the same old Tory and Labour suspects, be they Blackburn, Jackson, Callow, Evans, Fowler even, whoever.
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Do we really have a democratic system? Your point about Blackburn only recieving about 5% of the vote could equally be used in a mayoral election.If there were enough candidates 5% could indeed be enough to have the lucky victor elected mayor. This in my opinion would be less democratic than having several councillors.I agree Blackburn wasnt the whole towns choice however the town chose labour knowing Simon Blackburn was the leader.and that should be taken into account, if the people who voted labour didnt want Blackburn in power they had the choice to vote in Callow and the Tories. At least with the councillor system Blackburn can be rained in if he proposes something which councillors disagree on a mayor would not. A mayor can give money to their pet projects which may lead to other worthy projects losing all of their funding.This is a radical step to take and one which should not be taken lightly.
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You’re hardly being realistic Cardy. If there was a victorious mayor who only got 5% of the vote, it would mean that there were 20 other candidates. Has there ever been an election in history with that many candidates standing for one position? The last London mayoral election had 10 candidates.
How can Blackburn be reined in at the moment? Who’s going to do it? Simon calls the shots. Councillors appointed him as the council leader, which grants him power to select his own cabinet. None of those lettuces are going to tell Blackburn where to stick his Fairness Commission, because if they do, he’ll boot them out of the cabinet and they will lose about 6 grand a year. Blackburn has a large majority, so he will never need opposition support. He can freely appease his Labour wards without a care in the world about the issues in non-Labour wards. If he keeps his Labour wards happy, then he will remain as council leader until a PPC position comes up.
If, however, SB was the mayor, he would be more inclined to listen to the ‘leafy’ areas of Blackpool because they too would have a say in whether he was the mayor. A mayor has to transcend political boundaries because their electorate isn’t “Labour” or “Tory”, it’s the 140-odd thousand residents of Blackpool as a whole, most of whom don’t vote for political parties, but might vote for an accountable, elected mayor. If you take away the ward boundaries, the Tories and Labour in terms of raw votes were not that far apart, so it does not necessarily follow that Blackburn would be the mayor.
Indeed, if, say, someone like Jon Bamborough stood for mayor, it could have been the case that the council’s Labour/Tory bias was exactly the same, but the mayor was Lib Dem. Just because the town votes Labour in a majority of wards, does not mean that the mayor will be Labour by default.
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I take your point about the 5% and 20 candidates but what if there were 5 candidates 21% of the vote would be enough to see that person in power is this democratically right? Would you then limit the number of people who could stand to ensure a bigger percentage of the population vote for the winning mayor? This then raises the question of who is the best person to stand who would decide that?Again this is not very democratic as the electorate would have had no say in who should stand Is any UK system actually democratic? With regards to Blackburn he can be rained in if at the council meetings the councillors vote for what is right for the town,this cannot be said for a mayor he/she will have a full term before he/she is accountable.The same argument about voting a mayor out can also apply to a council leader as last term proved with the Callow administration.There were lots of issues with the callow regime some of which you have highlighted and the people of the town chose to react to those issues, similar to your mayor theory the people spoke and the rest is history,Callow did not do enough for the town his party got thrown out,the same incentive which you put forward for the mayor to do a good job can equally apply to councillors. The part about mayors giving money to pet projects was also highlighted in a programme about a council near or in London where the mayor had significantly overlooked many good organisations
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Nope, no limits. Democracy is democracy, largest vote count wins. Simon Blackburn got 1,049 votes. Assuming Blackpool has 140,000 residents (it’s a bit more than that now I think), that means Blackburn became council leader with 0.75% of the residents voting for him. Not even one percent!
Being more fair, we know the turnout was 37.41% so the total voters were 52374. As such, only 2% of voters actually voted for SB, though only 5% of Blackpool (Brunswick residents) could vote for him.
In a mayoral election, the candidates would be a combination of political party representatives and independents; you could put your name forward if you wanted. How can it be more democratic? There are no restrictions stopping people standing. The electorate pick their preferred candidate via the ballot box.
You are right, Blackburn could be reined in if all the councillors put people before politics, but in practice this doesn’t happen. If you attend any council meetings you can observe the block vote mentality which goes on and, I will admit, the Tories do it as well. There are some policies which the opposition cannot be seen to support even if they do support it; as such they vote against. Silly really, but on the other hand if everyones going to behave as an independent, what’s the point in political parties?
Blackburn is no different to Peter Callow in the sense that he’s all-powerful and more or less impossible to stop. He lacks the accountability of an elected mayor, though. Decisions are made as an executive, whereas with an elected mayor, the buck stops with them.
I can shoot down your argument about Callow right now. Is he still a councillor? The answer is yes. More residents voted for him than Simon Blackburn. Callow was punished in that his party failed to secure victory, but he himself did not lose his position as a councillor because he represents the strongest Tory ward.
Had he been the mayor, however, he would have been strung up off the end of North pier, but then you could say he may have consulted the people if he knew his seat wasn’t safe like it currently is.
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Forgot to add; Simon Blackburn gives money to pet projects, and Callow did. It happens with all leaders, but we entrust them to spend our cash wisely.
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Nope, no limits. Democracy is democracy, largest vote count wins. Everything in life should be so black and white. I started my comments off by asking do we really have a democratic system? The answer according to many leading commentators (Bentham to name but one) is no. Who actually voted for a coalition government not one single person.
It is easy to argue Blackburn only recieved a small percentage vote however we all knew that whichever labour candidate you voted for S.B. was the leader of that party as was Callow at the time of the election.If people didnt want S.B. they could have voted for the Tory party or anyone else. The people voted for labour,there was no secret pact done after the election unlike nationally we knew who the labour leader was.Add all the labour councillors votes together and put them to S.B’s total and the percentage is a whole lot better. If democracy is as you state democracy then we have a democratic leader now from the guidelines for democracy that you have set down.
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There is no such thing as true democracy, because it is never the case that everyones views are represented and it’s never the case that views are represented in a proportional manner. If the council election was proportional, the Tories would have 41.4% of the councillors, but actually they have 33%.
I see where you are coming from with the points about people knowing Blackburn was the leader but in my case I wanted to vote Conservative but didn’t want Callow as the leader. Had the Tories won I would have had no choice in the matter. As such I voted for Labour because I liked my Labour candidate and thought SB would do a better job than Callow.
Had we had a mayoral system, I could have voted for my Conservative ward councillors without the worry that Callow would be the mayor.
I just feel a mayoral system would be more transparent, we would know without doubt where the buck stopped, whereas now accountability is buried in a mire of officers and cabinet members.
I also think a mayoral system would encourage some of the majority who dont normally vote to do so, because they would perhaps feel that a mayor would be above the normal circus of politics and might actually represent the people rather than putting party first.
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Furthermore, you can’t just add up the Labour votes and say it’s the same as voting for an elected mayor. It’s not.
Blackburn could have lost his seat if Brunswick people turned against him, even if every other Blackpool resident voted Labour. What then?
A mayor is a person not a political party, and it is a fact that only about 5% of residents could vote for Blackburn and only 0.75% of residents actually did vote for him.
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The debate is about local personalities, or the lack of them. It ought to be about the office. Recent history has shown that the TOWN is RULED by a cabal of differing hues but reinforced by a bureaucracy that is a million miles away from good governance and sound ethics. EG. It is all well and good the wonderful bureaucrats lauding it over the lass in the Chippy getting five squiddleys an hour on the side, like some Italian cruise liner, whilst the Captains are getting freebies galore from some major hotels and neither their fellow oligarchs nor the bestial Inland Revenue seem in the least bit interest. Fine Glass road is a perfect example, or does it have to be made Crystal Clear? Yet the lass serving your lightly battered cod will be hounded into Holloway.
What does a small town like Blackpool want with an extra pay structure on top of the over burdened administration it already has? Nothing of value except to the salaries of a select few! I am all for reward and advancement, but not with mediocrity and, call it what you will, by a cabal of Soviet styled jobsworths. The average worker at the council appears to be capable and competent, which cannot be echoed in the over paid management.
A similar expression of doubt has to be said for our elected representatives. Highfield ward still has no Labour councillor who can take constituents concerns into a private office and deal with them in a manner befitting. Instead of banging the table and demanding due diligence and respect, the electorate go to forums in the school theatre and have to endeavour to get an audience with someone who has little idea of his position or responsibilities. The scrutiny that councillors exercise is only as good as that exercised by the electorate. With the exception of this blog, that scrutiny seems to be severely lacking.
When a problem was placed before a local MP, the constituent was informed that, “as he was not a lawyer, he could not comment on the facts placed before him.” Being a lawyer has nothing to do with being able to read a simple deposition and make an educated appraisal. If a matter looks to be wrong then most likely it will be wrong. That is why the ancient legal system has survived, because it is adaptable and changeable. Bad laws cannot be changed by bad politicians who view their own situation above the needs of their constituents. Politicians have become so blasé that they have forgotten what they are in politics for. The non-scrutiny of legislation is definitely not one of them, or ought not to be. If a statement reads wrong, then more than likely it will also be wrong. Debate, intelligent and constructive dissection of a problem is what makes human being what we are. The closed minds of indoctrinated Party Politics appear to be destroying that premise.
“Nobles Oblige”. So if the “office “ cannot stand scrutiny, how much worse will it be when the contestants cannot/do not stand up to scrutiny? Perhaps the blue brigade should reflect before they have another clanger. As for “Blackburn Reds”, it doesn’t look appealing at all. The look on Councillor Maughan’s face when addressed with a problem by a constituent was worth a thousand words. His, “I’ll take this to MP Marsden” comment revealed the complete lack of understanding on his behalf of his position, his role on the council and his role as related to the electorate. Had the constituent wanted or needed to utilise Gordon Marsden office, he would have done so and been ignored once again. What does it all say for an elected Mayor who could chose his/her own agenda and follow his/her own wants. Fu Yu electorate. Happy Chinese New Year.
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Its another aspect to consider, but then thats what debate is all about. Thank you for pointing out some facts I hadnt considered.
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A gazette reporter has rung me for a quote today,it seems they are considering doing an article on this in monday nights gazette.
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No better man, go for it Dave.
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Not a difficult process to bring about a Mayoral referendum. Getting folk to turn out and vote is the hard bit.
The risk is that you get the Heinz effect – (when someone says beans, most people say Heinz – because they’re well known). So with directly elected Mayors. You tend to get people elected who are well known locally. (Ahhh! I’ve heard of them, so I’ll vote for them).
Anyone want someone who hit the national headlines with a pro-smoking campaign as the first directly elected Mayor of Blackpool?
Concentrating power into fewer hands is not a good direction in my view.
Seems to me the whole ‘directly elected’ thing is pointless unless you also make each candidate set out their financial plan for their term of office – showing how much they will spend, broadly what they’ll spend it on, and how much of that will come from taxation. (That’s in addition to the dreams and promises that we usually get).
That said, I think we might be getting to vote in a directly elected official (without the budget plans sadly) this year anyway.
Don’t want to subvert Phil’s topic here, but Fylde Borough’s forward meeting schedule has 15th November as “Police Referendum” that looks as though it is the date when we elect a directly elected Police Commissioner. I understand Ribble Valley businessman and councillor Kevin Horkin, 49, from Waddington, has become the first official candidate for the £85,000-a-year role.
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I feel a bit stupid now, I always assumed that police commissioners be policemen.
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I expect a number of ex Labour MPs will be wanting the Labour nomination in Lancashire. There is talk of Lib Dems and Conservatives backing a non party ex policeman candidate. But I expect all parties to have candidates and a number of Independents.
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That being true, it’s difficult to support the politicisation of the police. Policing is, after all, policing.
What do you see as the benefits of elected commissioners?
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Anyone want someone who hit the national headlines with a pro-smoking campaign as the first directly elected Mayor of Blackpool?
Sure, why not? It beats meaningless, soft platitudes.
I presume you meant pro-freedom, though, rather than enforced smoking in private places. I’ve yet to encounter any ‘pro-smoking’ individuals, let alone candidates.
Concentrating power into fewer hands is not a good direction in my view.
Which is why a directly-elected mayor is a better opportunity than the status quo. I prefer the idea that all of Blackpool gets to choose who leads its council, rather than a handle of people in Norbreck or Brunswick.
The cabinet system remains, accountability is increased and there isn’t a direct transfer of increased power, so I don’t see what the problem is. Furthermore, the internecine warfare between factions in Labour and Conservative groups is reduced to the effect of a fart in the room, because there isn’t scope to remove a mayor during their term in office. One of the big failings of the Callow administration was the factionalism that he and his wife engendered, which ultimately led to his downfall. The effect on Blackpool, of course, was catastrophic, as we all experienced.
What do you see as the benefits of elected commissioners?
Elected commissioners should enable priorities to be set for each policing region. There are a range of ‘crimefighting tools’ available in the policing ‘toolkit’, as they like to call it. Some are suited to some crime regions better than others: I think that it will work out better to have a directly-accountable individual setting priorities and the tools to be used in a policing plan for the region. For example, will it be the case that Theresa May’s latest wheeze, the ‘Community Trigger’ , will be of any use in Lancashire or do we already have something in place that works better? Having the ability to ignore centralised priorities and gimmicks is something that appeals to me and could possibly appeal to those police officers who just want to get on with some work. The commissioner would be a democratically-elected political buffer with a mandate – that’s a fairly big step towards localism, I think.
There’re also the bits about budgeting, but I don’t think that will be a big part of the appeal of commissioners (unless the commissioner has the power to, for example, tell Steve Finnigan that he won’t be entitled to a £60K chauffeur-driven car that year, because a couple of police officers are required elsewhere. I don’t know if the commissioner can delve in to that level of spending priorities with the police budget.).
There’ll be teething problems and all sorts of things that will blow up in the first couple of years, but I hope it works out and takes us towards a culture away from assuming that bureaucracies with a fundamental involvement in our lives and neighbourhoods don’t have to be accountable (although I see Blackburn is doing his best to work against this with his soviet-appointed
Kommissars‘Fairness Commissioners’).Naturally, I’m predisposed towards elected police commissioners. It’s because I’m predisposed to the idea of electing ‘highways commissioners’ (who would be able to put Peter Cross in his rightful place, as a road sweeper) and ‘parks commissioners’ etc. Local authority involvement in direct elections shouldn’t just stop at electing mayors.
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Presumably there’s a reason why The Gasjet is running a question on elected mayors as today’s ‘Have Your Say’ poll?
I don’t (won’t) buy the print edition, so I can’t see what might have prompted it.
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As Dave Palmer said, they contacted him for a quote about it last week. Perhaps they read it on here; they do visit from time to time.
I don’t buy it either; 55p as well, shocking!
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55p? I thought it was 60p! I can get the same news from ‘Your Blackpool’
I thought they only contacted Dave Palmer about the £3 homes scandal.
I did wonder if they’d been spurred on by reports from their unofficial news agency (ie, your blog).
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No no, they didn’t contact him about that. Parky just produced a one-sided pile of drivel which gave Pontius Peter a soapbox.
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Oh, I see now.
Why on earth didn’t they contact you for a comment?
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How long have you got?
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The publication and distribution of ‘Your Blackpool’ is almost certainly one of the most criminal wastes of public money ever dreamt up.
I questioned the concept of it with my local councillor at the outset of the Callow administration and suggested then that it should be scrapped with immediate effect.
The councillor (who I will not name) stated that he had been advised – presumably by the heirarchy – that it was cheaper to publish and distribute the ‘paper’ than to use the Gasjet to advertise Alleygate proposals.
I said that such a statement could not possibly be true and suggested that he ask for details of such costings. Needless to say I never heard any more about the matter. Callows lot continued with its publication, and Blackburns failures are more likely to double its size to waste even more money!
The basic trouble in Blackpool, certainly in the Unitary era, is that once elected, the councillors seem to have a spell cast over them by the inept appointed officers, and take everything onboard they are told as gospel, and not to be questioned. We now see the results of this recipe for disaster.
Boris Johnson did have the common sense to halt a similar publication when he became London Mayor.
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Why not name him? if he is a good guy and is being stepped on by the party members to keep quiet, we need people to speak out for us, thats the whole idea of voting for them in the first place to act for us not against us.
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Hmm, it sounds like Freedom of Information time.
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I have always thought the Mayor’s Position is not a political one !
But the figurehead of the PR Machine. and to preside over the monkeys as Chairperson.
As chair does this give the deciding vote when stalemate is reached – if so then does political preference would come into play with a whip guidance ?
Mayor – As the first citizen of Blackpool, the position of Mayor is a busy and varied one. As well as chairing the Council meeting, the Mayor has a ceremonial role that involves taking part in activities ranging from the opening of conferences to presiding over citizenship ceremonies for new British citizens.
The Mayor and Deputy Mayor are appointed to their positions each year at the Council meeting held in May. It is normally the longest serving councillor who takes up the role of Mayor.
Addressing the Mayor
The correct form of address for the current Mayor is ‘The Worshipful the Mayor of Blackpool, and the Mayoress.
After formal introductions, speakers should refer to the Mayor as ‘Mr Mayor’.
Inviting the Mayor
If you wish to invite the Mayor to an event, please contact the Civic Officer . Please note that written notice of at least two weeks is required for all invitations.
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If you vote me in as mayor of Blackpool I will promise to do the following:
Create bylaws which call for the expulsion of criminals of no fixed abode to beyond the borough boundary and warn them that if they ever return that they will be gaoled.
Place a greater emphasis on proactive and robust policing policies and place the local police and policing authority under stronger scruntiny.
Abolish crap development schemes that benefit only the council officers and building firms.
Place sets of stocks in Talbot Square for those who transgress publicly like that whore who pissed on the cenotaph and allow the citizens of Blackpool to pelt them with rotting vegetables/fruit/eggs. On release from said stocks they will be required to clean the square of all the mess thrown at them.
A shoot-to-kill policy for dealers of narcotics.
A robust policy of punishment for burglars – First offence flogging, Second hanging.
Removal from British Citizenship information packs of passport applications forms as it is currently the practice to provide them – citizenship is not just about a passport.
A requirement during British Citizenship ceremonies to reflect Blackpool’s illustrious musichall past for the participants to “do a turn” i.e. a song and dance routine or a standup comedy spot in English
The closing of all establishments in Blackpool that promote Karaoke.
Vehicle check points on the M55 to intercept suspected 6-fingered, pie-munching inbreds from East Lancashire who sleep with their close relatives and refer to the decent Tangerine-loving people of Blackpool as “donkey bothers”.
You heard it hear first – Vote For The Terrorist!
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You Clown, still laughing
from the moron
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One exists to provide you with jocular interludes to wash away the cares of the world
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oops typos/grammatical mistakes – “donkey botherers” & You heard it here first.
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