Mayoral Referendum.
Posted by Roger Godsiff, MP for Birmingham, Hall Green, at 12:27, Mon 14 May 2012:
I was one of the co-Chairs of the All Party ‘No campaign’ which was campaigning against the Referendum on whether Birmingham should have an ‘elected Mayor’. The Referendum was imposed by the Coalition Government on the people of Birmingham.
I welcome the fact that the people of Birmingham voted overwhelmingly (58% to 42%) against the proposal for an elected Mayor. As I said on numerous occasions at various meetings during the campaign the concept of concentrating power in the hands of one individual was dangerous.
The No campaign set out the ten clear reasons why we asked the people of Birmingham to vote against the proposal whereas the ‘Yes campaign’ – supported by elements within the Chamber of Commerce; the Birmingham Post and Mail; Lord Heseltine and Lord Adonis; and assorted individuals who wanted to be Mayor – took it for granted that there would be a ‘Yes’ majority and hardly bothered to advance any coherent reasons why the people of Birmingham should support such a proposal.
The Coalition Government were very keen to get a ‘Yes’ vote and the Electoral Commission, to their shame, devised a ballot paper which did not ask a simple question of ‘Do you want to change the current system to have an elected Mayor in Birmingham – please vote yes or no’ but instead devised two bland options which caused considerable confusion for many people. Over 5,000 ballot papers were rejected (2.5% of votes cast). However those ballot papers that had ‘yes’ written on it were counted as being in favour of having an elected Mayor but those ballot papers that had ‘No’ written on it were disallowed. This was flagrantly biased but, thankfully, made no difference to the massive rejection of the proposal.
I very much welcome the 20 Labour gains made throughout Birmingham and the change of control in Birmingham. The Council has many challenges and difficult tasks facing it but the new intake of Councillors, including Barry Bowles, Lisa Trickett and Mohammed Azim from the Hall Green constituency will, I hope, assist with bringing changes to the way that Council is run and I wish them all well for their period of office.
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Posted by Paul Holloway, 18:34, Mon 14 May 2012: (Is this post abusive?) #
The level of debate and engagement with the electorate on the question of whether our city should have an elected Mayor was so low that it could simply could not have been any lower. I can imagine that the local television and radio would probably have covered it at some stage, but I didn't see or hear it. I didn't see anyone forcefully and effectively making the case for either camp. I actually tried to do a bit of digging around to see what campaigns were being fought, but when you have to go out of your way to try and get some background then you know that theres something seriously wrong. The conversation and debate simply never got going. Fair play to Roger for at least taking a position and at making an attempt to get it in the open.
I don't believe the fault lies locally. This was all the coalition's idea, yet there was absolutely nothing coming out on a national level. Without that the get things going, it was always going to be very difficult to inspire debate at a local level.
Good luck to the new administration in Birmingham.
Incidentally, I'm don't see anything wrong with the question we were asked - apart from the fact that we didn't have the background information to form a decision upon. And on the comments made regarding bias in the counting, I trust you will take this up with the relevant authorities if you've got evidence to back it up?