Directly elected mayors in England

Local authority areas in England typically have an executive leader and a cabinet selected from the local council, similar to how the national prime minister and cabinet are selected from Parliament. In contrast, residents of some areas, or groups of areas known as combined authorities or combined county authorities, directly elect the executive mayors of their local government.

The first such political post was the mayor of London, created as the executive of the Greater London Authority in 2000 as part of a reform of the local government of Greater London. Since the Local Government Act 2000, all of the several hundred principal local councils in England and Wales have been required to review their executive arrangements. Mayors who are directly elected to cover combined authorities or combined county authorities are informally known as metro mayors, as they typically cover metropolitan areas. Examples of metro mayors include the mayor of Greater Manchester and the mayor of the West Midlands.

Legislation on directly elected mayors applies both to England and Wales, but there are currently no directly elected mayors in Wales.

All devolved regional mayors currently have a seat on the Council of Nations and Regions, where they sit alongside the UK Prime Minister and First Ministers of devolved governments. The Mayor of London and the mayors of combined authorities also sit on the England only Mayoral Council.

The system of elected mayors had been considered by the Major ministry, and the former Environment Secretary Michael Heseltine had been a proponent of it.^[1] The 1997 Labour manifesto included a commitment to reform local government in London by introducing an elected mayor.^[2]

The first directly elected mayor was introduced in Greater London in 2000 as part of the statutory provisions of the Greater London Authority Act 1999. The position of the elected Mayor of London is a strategic regional one, and quite different from that of local authority mayors. The work of the Mayor of London is scrutinised by the London Assembly, a unique arrangement in the English local government system. The Mayor of London cannot be removed from office by a referendum following a petition, as is the case for directly elected mayors elsewhere in England.

The role should not be confused with the ancient position of Lord Mayor of London, elected annually by liverymen of the City of London.

Elsewhere in England and Wales, since the Local Government Act 2000, there have been a range of options for how a local council executive leadership can be constituted, and installing a directly elected mayor is one of these options. The 2000 act ended the previous committee-based system, where functions were exercised by committees of the council (although this was reinstated in 2012). All of several hundred principal councils were required to review their executive arrangements under the 2000 legislation. Local authorities considering the option of an elected mayor were required to put the question to a local referendum. It is also possible for campaign groups to trigger a local referendum with a signed petition. A number of areas with elected mayors also have civic mayors or Lord mayors and these ceremonial roles conferred on acting councillors are separate from elected mayors.

From 2000 until 2022 all directly elected mayors in England were elected using the Supplementary Vote electoral system.^[3] Following the passing of the Elections Act 2022, the 2024 election was, and future mayoral elections will be, run using first past the post.

Eleven mayors were established during 2002, in both metropolitan and non-metropolitan districts, unitary authorities and London boroughs. Three further mayoralties were created under this legislation: in 2005 (Torbay; abolished 2019),^[4] 2010 (Tower Hamlets),^[5] and 2015 (Copeland).^[6]

Some of the first mayoral elections were won by independents, notably in Hartlepool, where the election was won by Stuart Drummond, who played Hartlepool United's mascot; and in Middlesbrough, where it was won by former police officer Ray Mallon, who left the local police force to stand for election.

Although Wales is included in the legislation, only one Welsh authority, Ceredigion, held a referendum on such a proposal, in May 2004. Over 70% of the voters voted against the proposal.^[7]

In October 2006, the DCLG white paper Strong and Prosperous Communities proposed that in future the requirement for a referendum to approve the establishment of an elected mayor for a council area be dropped in favour of a simple resolution of the council following community consultation. It also proposed the direct election of council cabinets where requested, and that the 'mayor and council manager' system in Stoke-on-Trent be reformed into a conventional 'mayor and cabinet' system, it having been the only English council to adopt that system.^[8] The 'mayor and council manager' option was later revoked by the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 and a referendum was no longer required if two thirds of a council voted in favour of the change in executive model.^[9] The elected cabinet option was not taken forward. The 2007 legislation required all local authorities to review their executive arrangements again and consider the case for an elected mayor.

The Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009 introduced the combined authority structure. Other subsequent Acts (see below) inserted sections into LDEDCA which created new posts of mayor for combined authorities.

In February 2006, the Institute for Public Policy Research published a report calling for elected mayors in Birmingham and Manchester, which was positively received by the government, but not by the two city councils concerned. Later Prime Minister David Cameron expressed support for the system, saying directly elected mayors are "accountable" and can "galvanise action".^[10] On 2 May 2012, think tank the Bow Group published a short article supporting directly elected mayors in large English cities.^[11]

The Localism Act 2011 permitted central government to trigger referendums for elected mayors,^[12] and this was intended to happen in the largest cities during 2012. Ahead of this, Leicester City Council in 2011 and Liverpool City Council in 2012 exercised their option to have a directly elected mayor without a referendum.^[13] In September 2011 citizens of Salford collected the required number of signatures to force a referendum, which was successful. The first mayoral election took place in May 2012.^[14]

Using the powers in the Localism Act 2011, on 3 May 2012, referendums were held in 10 English cities to decide whether or not to switch to a system that includes a directly elected mayor.^[15] Only one, Bristol, voted for a mayoral system. Doncaster voted to retain its elected mayoral system in a referendum held on the same day.

In 2014 it was announced that mayors would be created as leaders of the Combined Authorities, subject to new primary legislation. In 2017 elections were held for: Liverpool City Region, Greater Manchester, Tees Valley, West of England and the West Midlands as part of the devolution deals allowed by the Cities and Local Government Devolution Act 2016. The Cities and Local Government Devolution Act 2016 inserted sections into the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009 for the election of mayors of combined authorities.

A delayed election for the Sheffield City Region followed in May 2018. The North of Tyne Authority and the North East Combined Authority were merged into the new North East Mayoral Combined Authority, the first election for which took place in May 2024.^[16]

Combined authority mayors are members of the England only Mayoral Council and the UK wide Council of the Nations and Regions.

The Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 introduced new types of measures in the local government system in England. Relevantly, the LURA introduced the new combined county authority structure, which is similar to existing combined authorities, created new powers to be devolved to combined authorities, and allowed mayors to take a different title, for example "Governor", "elected leader" or "county commissioner". There are several "devolution deals" that are set to be enshrined in statute following the LURA receiving royal assent.

Devolution deals had been agreed in principle with Norfolk and Suffolk by the Conservative government which involve directly-elected leaders of each county's council.^[17] Norfolk County Council voted to accept the deal.^[18] In May 2024, Suffolk County Council was seeking consultation.^[19] In September, the new Labour government decided to not proceed with single authority devolution deals, instead preferring multi-authority deals involving the formation of combined authorities. The mayoral agreements for Norfolk and Suffolk agreed by the previous government will therefore not proceed.^[20]

Executive arrangement reviews, petitions and local referendums in the Local Government Act 2000 can also be used to remove the post of mayor and revert to the typical "leader and cabinet" executive arrangement. Such methods could not initially be used to remove the post of mayor if it was established following a Government-mandated referendum. However, a House of Lords amendment to the Cities and Local Government Devolution Act 2016 amended the Local Government Act 2000 to establish the right of a future referendum to abolish any local authority elected mayor established following a Government-mandated referendum.^[21]

Councillors have complained about the perceived excessive power of directly elected mayors.^[22][23] There have been campaigns in four of the local authorities with directly elected mayors to hold referendums to abolish the posts.^[24] In Lewisham, the Bring Back Democracy campaign called for a new referendum, citing poor turnout and a very close result in the 2001 referendum.^[25] In April 2007, Lewisham Council voted 28–24 against a motion calling for consultation over the issue.^[26]

In Doncaster, in March 2007, "Fair Deal" campaigners presented an 11,000-signature petition to the council calling for a new referendum. The council voted 31–27 in favour of a new referendum, which was held in May 2012.^[27] The electorate voted in favour of retaining the mayoralty. The Middlesbrough electorate also voted to retain the mayoral system.^[28]

Three councils have reverted to leader and cabinet executives. The electorate of Stoke-on-Trent voted to remove the post of elected mayor on 23 October 2008, to be replaced with a system of council leader and cabinet.^[29] In November 2012 Hartlepool also voted to scrap the position of directly elected mayor in a referendum.^[30] Liverpool City Council chose to abolish the post of elected mayor and revert to a leader and cabinet model from May 2023 following a 2022 consultation on its future governance.

Referendums were held in North Tyneside and Torbay in May 2016 to determine the future of their mayoralties.^[31] While North Tyneside voted to retain the system, Torbay voted in favour of returning to a leader and cabinet style of governance. Further referendums were held in May 2021 in Newham and Tower Hamlets, which both voted to retain the mayoral system.

Bristol voted to remove the post of elected mayor in a referendum on 5 May 2022, to be replaced with a committee system.^[32]

Simon Jenkins wrote in The Guardian calling metro mayors a "farce of local democracy".^[33]

The Local Government Act 2000 does not apply in Scotland and the Scottish Parliament has chosen to reform local government instead by introducing the Single Transferable Vote electoral system. The Scottish Conservatives support elected mayors where there is found to be "local demand in our major towns and cities".^[34] A mayor in Scotland is traditionally known as a provost.

There are no directly elected mayors in Northern Ireland. Offices of mayors in Northern Ireland are only a ceremonial position.

The powers of the mayor are commensurate with the kind of local authority for which they are the executive. London borough councils, metropolitan district councils and unitary authority councils have broadly similar functions, but for non-metropolitan district councils it is a subset, for example not having power over education, libraries and waste management. The Mayor of London has completely different powers to the "mayor and cabinet" leaders.

A local-authority elected mayor has powers similar to those of the executive committee in a Leader and Cabinet model local authority. These are described as either "exclusive" powers or "co-decision" powers and are defined in the Local Government (Functions and Responsibilities) (England) Regulations 2000.^[35]

Co-decision powers are those the mayor shares with the council, notably the power to make the local authority's annual budget and its policy framework documents. These are: Annual Library Plan; Best Value Performance Plan; Children's Services Plan; Community Care Plan; Community Strategy; Crime and Disorder Reduction Strategy; Early Years Development Plan; Education Development Plan; Local Development Framework; and the Youth Justice Plan. To amend or reject a mayor's proposals for any of these documents, the council must resolve to do so by a two-thirds majority. This is again based on secondary legislation, in this case the Local Government (Standing Orders) (England) Regulations 2001.^[36]

Exclusive powers are less easy to define, because they consist of all the powers that are granted to a local authority by Act of Parliament except those defined either as co-decision powers or as "not to be the responsibility of an authority's executive". This latter is a limited list, including quasi-judicial decisions on planning and licensing, and certain ceremonial, employment and legal decisions.

An elected mayor (in a mayor and cabinet system) also has the power to appoint up to nine councillors as members of a cabinet and to delegate powers, either to them as individuals, or to the Mayor and Cabinet committee, or to subcommittees of the Mayor and Cabinet committee. In practice, the mayor remains personally accountable, so most mayors have chosen to delegate to a very limited extent—if at all.

Local authorities in Britain remain administered by a permanent staff of chief officers led by a chief executive or chief operating officer^[37] who are politically neutral bureaucrats. Their powers remain unaffected by the introduction of elected mayor. Senior officers continue to be appointed by a politically representative committee of councillors, and the mayor may not attempt to influence the decision as to who is appointed (except within the committee as a member of the committee). To maintain the staff's professional and political independence, the mayor (or any other member of the council) may not personally direct any member of staff. Accordingly, an elected mayor cannot really be accurately characterised as an executive mayor, as in parts of the US and certain other countries, but more as a semi-executive mayor.

Consultations took place in 12 English cities due to have referendums over the introduction of elected mayors, over what powers those mayors should have, and how they should be scrutinised.^[38]

As of October 2021, there have been 54 referendums on the question of changing executive arrangements to a model with an elected mayor. Referendums are triggered by council resolution, local petition or central government intervention. Of these, 17 have resulted in the establishment of a new mayoralty and 37 have been rejected by voters. Average "yes" vote is 45%. Typical turnout is around 30%, but has been as low as 10% and as high as 64%. The turnout is higher when the referendum coincides with another vote, such as an election.

There have been nine referendums on the question of removing the post of elected mayor. Four mayoral posts have been disestablished following a vote and five retained.

Two local authority mayors, those for Leicester and Liverpool, were created by city council resolution without holding a referendum.

As of May 2024^[update], there are 25 directly elected mayors in England.

Authority	Post	Type	Current mayor	Party		First election	Next election	Population (2020)[39]
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority	Mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough	Combined authority	Nik Johnson		Labour Co-op	2017	2025	859,800
East Midlands Combined County Authority	Mayor of the East Midlands	Combined county authority	Claire Ward		Labour Co-op	2024 (inaugural election)	2028	1,363,000
Greater London Authority	Mayor of London	Greater London Authority	Sadiq Khan		Labour	2000	2028	8,547,000
Greater Manchester Combined Authority	Mayor of Greater Manchester	Combined authority	Andy Burnham		Labour Co-op	2017	2028	2,848,300
Liverpool City Region Combined Authority	Metro Mayor of the Liverpool City Region	Combined authority	Steve Rotheram		Labour	2017	2028	1,564,000
North East Mayoral Combined Authority	Mayor of the North East	Combined authority	Kim McGuinness		Labour Co-op	2024 (inaugural election)	2028	2,567,000
South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority	Mayor of South Yorkshire	Combined authority	Oliver Coppard		Labour Co-op	2018	2028	1,415,100
Tees Valley Combined Authority	Mayor of the Tees Valley	Combined authority	Ben Houchen		Conservative	2017	2028	677,200
West Midlands Combined Authority	Mayor of the West Midlands	Combined authority	Richard Parker		Labour Co-op	2017	2028	2,939,900
West of England Combined Authority	Mayor of the West of England	Combined authority	Dan Norris		Labour	2017	2025	950,000
West Yorkshire Combined Authority	Mayor of West Yorkshire	Combined authority	Tracy Brabin		Labour Co-op	2021	2028	2,345,200
York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority	Mayor of York and North Yorkshire	Combined authority	David Skaith		Labour Co-op	2024 (inaugural election)	2028	820,500

Local authority	Post	Type	Current mayor	Party		Established	Next election	Population
Bedford Borough Council	Mayor of Bedford	Unitary authority	Tom Wootton		Conservative	2002	2027	155,700
Croydon London Borough Council	Mayor of Croydon	London borough	Jason Perry		Conservative	2022	2026	386,710
Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council	Mayor of Doncaster	Metropolitan borough	Ros Jones		Labour	2002	2025	291,600
Hackney London Borough Council	Mayor of Hackney	London borough	Caroline Woodley		Labour	2002	2026	212,200
Leicester City Council	Mayor of Leicester	Unitary authority	Peter Soulsby		Labour	2011	2027	294,700
Lewisham London Borough Council	Mayor of Lewisham	London borough	Brenda Dacres		Labour Co-op	2002	2026	261,600
Mansfield District Council	Mayor of Mansfield	Non-metropolitan district	Andy Abrahams		Labour	2002	2027	100,600
Middlesbrough Borough Council	Mayor of Middlesbrough	Unitary authority	Chris Cooke		Labour Co-op	2002	2027	139,000
Newham London Borough Council	Mayor of Newham	London borough	Rokhsana Fiaz		Labour Co-op	2002	2026	249,500
North Tyneside Council	Mayor of North Tyneside	Metropolitan borough	Norma Redfearn		Labour	2002	2025	196,000
Salford City Council	Mayor of Salford	Metropolitan borough	Paul Dennett		Labour	2012	2028	229,000
Tower Hamlets London Borough Council	Mayor of Tower Hamlets	London borough	Lutfur Rahman		Aspire	2010	2026	220,500
Watford Borough Council	Mayor of Watford	Non-metropolitan district	Peter Taylor		Liberal Democrats	2002	2026	80,000

Authority	Post	Type	First election
Greater Lincolnshire Combined County Authority	Mayor of Greater Lincolnshire	Mayoral County Combined Authority in Lincolnshire, North Lincolnshire, and North East Lincolnshire[40]	2025 (inaugural election)
Hull and East Yorkshire Combined Authority	Mayor of Hull and East Yorkshire	Mayoral Combined Authority in Kingston-upon-Hull, and the East Riding of Yorkshire[41]	2025 (inaugural election)

Authority	Post	Type	Cancellation
Cornwall Council	Mayor of Cornwall	Mayoral Deal in Cornwall, which changes the Governance model of Cornwall Council from a Leader and Cabinet to a Mayor and Cabinet[42]	Cancelled April 2023[43][44]
Norfolk County Council	Elected Leader of Norfolk County Council	County Deal in Norfolk, with an Elected Leader and not Mayor[45]	Cancelled September 2024
Suffolk County Council	Elected Leader of Suffolk County Council	County Deal in Suffolk, with an Elected Leader and not Mayor[46]	Cancelled September 2024

Former mayoralties are:

Local authority	Post	Type	Established	Disestablished
Bristol City Council	Mayor of Bristol	Unitary authority	2012	2024
Copeland Borough Council	Mayor of Copeland	Non-metropolitan district	2015	2023
Hartlepool Borough Council	Mayor of Hartlepool	Unitary authority	2002	2013
Liverpool City Council	Mayor of Liverpool	Metropolitan borough	2012	2023
North of Tyne Combined Authority	Mayor of the North of Tyne	Combined authority	2019	2024
Stoke-on-Trent City Council	Mayor of Stoke-on-Trent	Unitary authority	2002	2009
Torbay Council	Mayor of Torbay	Unitary authority	2005	2019

• Directory of current mayors
• House of Commons Library Briefing Note
• Arguments for elected mayors
• Arguments against elected mayors
• Institute for Government mayoral pages
• Warwick Commission on Elected Mayors and City Leadership