The mayor of Labor in Bristol suffered a blow after the city voted to end the role. Marvin Rees, the first man of black African descent to become directly elected mayor of a major European city, will serve his current term, after which Bristol will return to the committee system.
Opposition politicians, who say the role invests too much power in one person, hailed the referendum result on the mayor’s role as a chance to restart democracy in the city.
However, Reese said he believed the commission was a “very bad system” that would not deal with critical issues as effectively as a prominent, visible leader.
He said: “I hope I’m wrong, because the city is certainly facing challenges and the city needs leadership to take on the challenges and opportunities.
During the campaign, he said issues ranging from a pandemic response to the removal of a statue of slave trader Edward Colston have benefited from a clear type of leadership that allows for the role of directly elected mayor.
Reese, who was re-elected last May and has already said he will not run for a third term, denied the vote was an assessment of his time in office and said the referendum was a “distraction” from more important issues such as the crisis at the cost of life.
The referendum came after Liberal Democrat advisers proposed a proposal backed by the Greens, with 59% of people voting to remove the role and 29% turnout.
Councilor Heather Mack, the leader of the Green Group, said it marked a “new chapter in the way our city is governed”.
“For many years, important decisions affecting the city have been made behind closed doors by only one person, whom the public and elected councilors cannot easily challenge,” she said. “We look forward to a fairer, more open way of doing business, where decisions are made together.”
In last year’s council election, the Greens became the largest joint party in Bristol with Labor, and the party hoped Reese would share power. However, to their anger and disappointment, the Greens were not given seats in Reese’s office.
Reese will serve until 2024, after which all councilors will be re-elected. It seems unlikely that any party will win an overall majority, opening up the possibility of a coalition, probably between Labor and the Greens.
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While many, nationally and internationally, see Reese as an impressive figure, he also has detractors in Bristol, with some annoyed by his style of governing. There was anger over plans for a new arena, parking areas and the MetroBus transport scheme, although Reese inherited the first two projects.
Joss Clark, leader of the Lib Dem council group, said he hoped for “more cooperation” within a “fairer system”. Conservative group leader Mark Weston said: “The town hall model has been a disaster for Bristol – too much power at the whim of one man.
The mayoral post was established in 2012, with independent candidate George Ferguson becoming the first to take on the role. Reese defeated Ferguson in 2016.
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