Your say / mayoral referendum
‘The mayoral system gives Bristol a voice on a world stage’
Democracy gives power to people and what better way to do that than give all Bristolians the power to elect the person they want to lead the city. When we vote for our mayor we send a clear message about the way we want our city to be run.
Whatever your priorities, education, climate, better public transport, libraries or jobs you can use your voice to make Bristol a better place.
Because the mayor is voted for by the people they are answerable to the people. They have to keep our priorities in mind when deciding how best to run Bristol.
is needed now More than ever
The alternative being proposed in the referendum is for 30 or 40 politicians to make that decision whenever they feel like it. The leader of a committee system owes their position to the favour of a few councillors, not the people of Bristol.
The two mayors who have led Bristol over the last ten years have made some big and important decisions for the city. We are finally starting to tackle the housing crisis, building more homes than ever before; Bristol was the green capital of Europe, kickstarting projects that have been reducing our emissions and cleaning up our air.
George Ferguson’s MetroBus initiative expanded Bristol’s public transport network in 2017 – photo: Charlie Watts
George Ferguson introduced Metrobus, taking thousands of car journeys off our streets each day. He introduced Residents Parking and 20mph zones in our city, making neighbourhoods safer for all who live there.
Marvin Rees has put challenging inequality and racism at the heart of our city vision, giving hope to those who struggle the most and a sense that Bristol can reflect and care for those who have been left behind.
The mayoral system isn’t perfect. The mayor should collaborate with councillors and be held to account by them. This is also a vital part of our democracy.
As a Green Party member, my views differ from our national and local policy but, there are perfectly good, accountable mayoral models like London and elsewhere in the UK and Europe that have created dynamic, world leading cities.
The mayoral system puts Bristol on the map, bringing investment, jobs and money from central government and gives Bristol a voice on the world stage.
I fear the alternative of a committee system will make us look inward and take us back to the indecision that plagued Bristol since the nineties. Differing visions from 70 councillors will, at best lead to timid changes and at worst lead to a stalemate.
If we want to keep our priorities for Bristol at the heart of our city leadership, if we want to keep Bristol on the map and keep the people of Bristol in control then we should vote to keep the mayoral system on May 5th.
Sandy Hore-Ruthven was the Green Party candidate in the 2021 mayoral election and is the former CEO of Creative Youth Network
Sandy Hore-Ruthven – photo: Bristol Green Party group
Main photo: Peter Brooks
Read more: ‘The ‘strong’ mayoral system has resulted in dangerously weak politically driven decision making’
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