London-style mayor for Tyne-Wear
Sep 29 2008 by Adrian Pearson, The Journal
A CONSERVATIVE Government would create a London-style elected mayor for Tyne and Wear with powers to deal with health, police and transport problems.
A report on the future of local Government has set the Tories on a path which will see one politician responsible for council services covering more than one million people.
If David Cameron wins the next election he is likely to take on board a recommendation to set up a series of “city region” mayors across the UK and hand over a level of power not seen outside London.
Under the present Government only the capital’s mayor is trusted with city-wide powers, a move many argue has been holding back growth for years.
But the bold plans put forward by David Curry MP have been roundly criticised in both Tyneside and Wearside, as city leaders warn of a “democratic deficit” in the “unworkable” plans.
North Tyneside’s elected mayor John Harrison last night said: “Once again the Tories have come up with a plan hatched in London and proposed for the North East.
“Elected mayors work where people want them. The people of North Tyneside wanted an elected mayor.
“This policy is a slap in the face for the mayoral candidates in North Tyneside whose job would be scrapped under this scheme.”
The report was put together by a team of experts known as the localism policy group, including Whitehall’s former director of local Government and have been billed as “a radical change to the way Britain is governed”.
But Newcastle Council Leader John Shipley was not one of those welcoming the findings.
He said: “This will be virtually impossible to implement and operate in an area such as Tyne and Wear.
“We have strong separate identities here, Sunderland is, of course, very different from Newcastle.
“A mayor covering several different areas works in London because there is a clear entity there which people identify with.
“But here we risk centralising power in one person and one office and that is not good for democracy.”
Mr Shipley said the five councils already work together on many issues and would welcome the chance of extra powers, but not in the single leader model favoured by the Tories.
Sunderland’s Conservative group leader Lee Martin has backed city regions but said he believes Sunderland would lose out if it was linked to Newcastle.
“I think it is an entirely daft idea, and there is a big risk that Sunderland would lose out to Newcastle, which the regional development agency has effectively made the capital of the North East.
“Wearside often watches as Tyneside benefits to Sunderland’s detriment and I think setting out a city region mayor would see this problem worsen.”
Eric Pickles, the Conservative’s shadow local government minister, is expected to announce this week a green paper on council changes which will include aspects of the report.
The announcement comes just days after leading local government expert Chris Leslie told Labour MPs “there is an argument for a Northern governor so we can finally give the Northern regions the attention they deserve”.
At the Labour Party conference Mr Leslie, director of influential think tank the New Local Government Network, said the North of England was “almost the last colony of the empire, controlled by far away London-based civil servants”.
A Conservative Party spokesman said: “We welcome David Curry's contribution to the policy process.”
