News / Politics
‘Air-miles mayor’ accused of ‘checking out of running Bristol’
Marvin Rees has missed a third of cabinet meetings over the last 12 months as opposition councillors claim he has “checked out of running Bristol”.
After almost eight years in power, Rees now has just over three months left in office before the local elections in May when both his term and the mayoral role will end.
Cabinet meetings are usually held every month at City Hall, where plans to spend more than £500,000 of taxpayer money are published.
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When the mayor is there, members of the public can ask him questions about these plans, as part of the democratic process.
Rees has himself frequently criticised opposition councillors for not attending cabinet meetings, saying they need to “familiarise themselves with the decision-making processes in the council and what’s actually going on”.
But he has missed four out of the last 12 meetings:
- In March 2023, he was in London for an event at the US Embassy
- In July 2023, he was in Bournemouth attending the annual conference of the Local Government Association
- In December 2023, he was in Dubai for the COP climate conference
- On Tuesday, he was in London for a post-COP event and gave a speech at the House of Lords
Former mayor George Ferguson called Rees’ non-attendance “not acceptable”. He tweeted: “I don’t remember ever missing a cabinet meeting… a vital mayoral duty.”
Cabinet meetings in Rees’ absence are chaired by deputy mayor Craig Cheney, who the public can submit questions to instead.
But as well as missing cabinet meetings, Rees was also not in Bristol for the evacuation of two council tower blocks.
He was in Rwanda in November 2023 when Barton House was evacuated, and in Liverpool in 2022 at the time of the Twinnell House fire.
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Read more: Rees in Rwanda: ‘I’m leading’
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Tom Hathway, deputy leader of the Green Party group in Bristol, said: “There are of course legitimate reasons to miss meetings, and one of the advantages of the committee system is that you’re not so dependent on one person at the top to get decisions made.
“However, it does seem that our air-miles mayor has checked out of running Bristol while the Greens, after chairing the group that cooperated on designing the new committee model, are busy getting ready to govern Bristol under it.”
According to the mayor’s office, Rees has attended “the vast majority” of cabinet meetings since he was first elected mayor in 2016, on average nine out of 10.
His published diary shows “extensive involvement” on the Barton House evacuation.
His attendance at the Commonwealth Local Government Forum in Rwanda was paid for by the Local Government Association; and his attendance at COP28 was paid for by C40, a global network of mayors coordinating action on the climate crisis.
Rees says that he stays in contact with his cabinet and senior council staff while away from Bristol, including when he infamously flew to Vancouver to deliver a 14-minute TED talk about how to tackle the climate crisis.
Shortly before COP28, a spokesperson for the mayor’s office said: “Bristol is a global city, and its people have connections across the world.
“The mayor is due to attend COP28, advocating for further major investment in Bristol and other cities as part of tackling the climate crisis and the migration that causes.
“Marvin is proud to continue banging the drum for Bristol, building on his record of securing the Bristol City Leap Partnership.
“Our city’s world-first project plans to invest some £630 million of international investment in clean energy in Bristol by 2028, creating over 1000 new jobs and cutting 150,000 tonnes of carbon emissions.”
But Rees’ recent frequent absences from cabinet meetings might appear in slight contrast with comments he previously made about opposition councillors failing to attend them.
There are usually a few councillors from other parties who attend to ask questions about specific plans, but most do not turn up.
Some have previously claimed the meetings are “toxic and condescending”.
During a cabinet meeting in October 2022, Rees said: “If we are serious about the committee system, it’s really important that councillors begin attending these meetings because they need to familiarise themselves with the decision-making processes in the council and what’s actually going on.
“The committee system will require attendance at cabinet meetings beyond the level that councillors currently put in.
“So it’s very important to the handover that’s going to happen between the mayoral system and the committee system that the game is upped in attendance.
“Today was really not good enough. It’s not summer holidays. It’s not half-term. This is school time, so we can be here.”
According to the mayor’s office, this criticism “continues to hold”.
During the most recent cabinet meeting on Tuesday, no opposition councillor submitted a question or statement on next year’s budget.
However, this will most likely happen at the next full council meeting, which votes to approve the budget.
But of the 21 papers that went to the last cabinet meeting, 15 had no statements or questions from opposition councillors.
Main photo: Rob Browne
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