Mayor of Bristol

Mayor of Bristol
Incumbent Marvin Rees since 7 May 2016
Style	City Mayor (to distinguish from Lord Mayor, a separate post)
Appointer	Elected
Term length	Four years
First holder	George Ferguson
Deputy	Estella Tincknell [1]
Salary	£65,738 [2]
Website	http://www.bristol.gov.uk/mayor

The Mayor of Bristol is the head of Bristol City Council. The Mayor is an elected politician who, along with the 70 members of Bristol City Council, is responsible for the strategic government of the city of Bristol, England. The role was created after a local referendum held on 3 May 2012, which followed the passage of the Localism Act 2011.^[3] 41,032 voted for an elected mayor and 35,880 voted against, with a turnout of 24%.^[4][5] An election for the new post was held on 15 November 2012.^[6][7]

The current Mayor is Marvin Rees, elected on 5 May 2016.

The post of Lord Mayor of Bristol is a separate office, elected each May by city councillors and taking office on 29 September for a one-year period. The Lord Mayor chairs Council meetings and performs ceremonial functions in the city.^[8]

Background

The Local Government Act 2000 required local authorities in the United Kingdom to move from the traditional committee-based system of decision making to one based on an executive, also allowing the possibility of a directly elected mayor.^[9] The first directly elected mayor was in Greater London in 2000.^[10] Others followed in other authorities, including Hartlepool,^[11] Middlesbrough,^[11] Tower Hamlets,^[12] Liverpool^[13] and Salford.^[14]

Referendum campaign

Following the passage of The City of Bristol (Mayoral Referendum) Order 2012 by the United Kingdom Parliament in February 2012,^[15] a referendum was announced for 3 May 2012.^[16] Nine other cities also held referendums on the same day: Birmingham,^[17] Bradford,^[18] Coventry,^[19] Leeds,^[20] Manchester,^[21] Newcastle upon Tyne,^[22] Nottingham,^[23] Sheffield^[24] and Wakefield.^[25] In addition, Doncaster Borough Council voted to hold a referendum on the same day to decide whether or not to retain their existing elected mayoral system, having been one of the earliest authorities to adopt the mayoral system in 2001.^[26][27]

Campaigning groups supporting (A Mayor for Bristol)^[28] and opposing (Bristol Says No!)^[29] an elected mayor were established. A debate organised by the University of Bristol took place in the Council House on 22 February 2012.^[30]

During the campaign, there were complaints that many voters did not receive leaflets produced by the city council explaining what the referendum was about.^[31][32] Cities minister, Greg Clark accused the council of inaccuracies in the leaflet and refused to cover the printing costs.^[33] After Clark promised more powers would be available to Bristol with an elected mayor, the city council accused him of "blackmail".^[34]

The result, declared on 4 May 2012 by returning officer Stephen McNamara, was in favour of creating the position. Bristol was the only one of the ten cities voting that day to choose having an elected mayor.^[7]

Bristol Mayoral referendum
4 May 2012

Choice	Votes	%
Elected Mayor	41,032	53
Cabinet System	35,880	47
Total votes	76,912	100.00
Source: [5]

Elections

The first election for the new post was held on 15 November 2012,^[35] the same day as elections for a Police and Crime Commissioner for the Avon and Somerset Constabulary area.^[36] A number of potential candidates expressed and interest in standing,^[37] and 15 candidates stood for election to be Mayor.^[38]

The supplementary vote system is used for the elections, with each voter being entitled to list a first and second choice candidate. In this system if no candidate has more than half of the votes plus one in the first round of counting, all candidates other than the top two are eliminated and voters' second choices from the eliminated candidates are then allocated to the remaining candidates. The second election for Mayor of Bristol took place in May 2016.^[39]

2012

2016

List of Mayors

See also

• Politics of Bristol

References

(2015 ←)   United Kingdom local elections, 2016   (→ 2017)
Metropolitan boroughs	Barnsley Birmingham Bolton Bradford Bury Calderdale Coventry Dudley Gateshead Kirklees Knowsley Leeds Liverpool Manchester Newcastle upon Tyne North Tyneside Oldham Rochdale Rotherham Salford Sandwell Sefton Sheffield Solihull South Tyneside St Helens Stockport Sunderland Tameside Trafford Wakefield Walsall Wigan Wirral Wolverhampton
Unitary authorities	Blackburn with Darwen Bristol Derby Halton Hartlepool Kingston upon Hull Milton Keynes North East Lincolnshire Peterborough Plymouth Portsmouth Reading Slough Southampton Southend-on-Sea Swindon Thurrock Warrington Wokingham
District councils	Adur Amber Valley Basildon Basingstoke and Deane Brentwood Broxbourne Burnley Cambridge Cannock Chase Carlisle Castle Point Cheltenham Cherwell Chorley Colchester Craven Crawley Daventry Eastleigh Elmbridge Epping Forest Exeter Fareham Gloucester Gosport Great Yarmouth Harlow Harrogate Hart Hastings Havant Hertsmere Huntingdonshire Hyndburn Ipswich Lincoln Maidstone Mole Valley Newcastle-under-Lyme North Hertfordshire Norwich Nuneaton and Bedworth Oxford Pendle Preston Redditch Reigate and Banstead Rochford Rossendale Rugby Runnymede Rushmoor South Cambridgeshire South Lakeland St Albans Stevenage Stratford-on-Avon Stroud Tamworth Tandridge Three Rivers Tunbridge Wells Watford Welwyn Hatfield West Lancashire West Oxfordshire Weymouth and Portland Winchester Woking Worcester Worthing Wyre Forest
Other elections	Mayor of Bristol Mayor of Liverpool London Assembly Mayor of London Mayor of Salford National Assembly for Wales Northern Ireland Assembly Police and crime commissioners Scottish Parliament