Resources

Newham Voting for Change leaflets

Check out our Frequently Asked Questions – or ask us a question through our Contact page.

Our Labour Party motion on the Newham Governance referendum can be found here – please feel free to download it and adapt for local political debate in Labour Party branches and affiliated organisations.

Articles

We love this article by Owen Hatherley for Novara:

Our elected mayors are a New Labour hangover, indebted to a 1990s notion that nothing really happened in politics, meaning ”participation” needed to be drummed up through celebrity fluff and managerial bullshit. It is no accident that Boris Johnson cut his teeth in a role perfectly suited to his vacuity. The left should not be campaigning for better mayors – we should be arguing for no mayors at all. They should be replaced with properly elected local authorities with powers once considered normal: to run our schools; control rents; own and run buses and trams; and build good housing. More devolution, less mayors.

Article in Tribune magazine by Olivia Blake (now MP for Sheffield Hallam) about the campaign for a committee structure in Sheffield:

Labour councils should be innovative, pioneering new democratic processes with greater citizen participation and deliberation. And we need to start now. The people are ready for change, and we should listen.

Article from 2006 “Directly elected mayors are not an effective model for England” by Lib Dem councillor Richard Kemp.

I oppose (elected) mayors as a matter of principle and because we can already see that they are having no discernible impact on the areas they lead.

Guidance and information

Directly Elected Mayors, House of Commons Briefing Paper no. 05000 (pdf)

“Is the committee system right for your council?” Explanation of the different governance forms on the Local Government Association website.

Links

It’s Our City! Website for the campaign in Sheffield to move to a committee structure.

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