Torbay Labour Party has welcomed the motion to go before Thursday’s full council meeting calling to end the elected mayoral system.
Darren Cowell, chair of Torbay Labour Party, told the PRSD: “We welcome the support of The Bay’s Conservatives to give the people of Torbay the opportunity to decide if the Elected Mayor system should continue.
“We called for cross-party support on this matter when we raised the issue last autumn and we hope the Conservative Secretary of State will take note of what we hope will be a unanimous decision by the council.
“If the Conservative-Lib Dem government is serious about their policy on giving local people the chance to make local decisions, as outlined in their so-called Localism Bill, then this will give it credibility.”
Labour’s mayoral candidate Patrick Canavan said: “I am pleased that there is this motion and that Conservative councillors are proposing it, especially as I received criticism from their former Parliamentary candidate for suggesting it last year.
“I have made it clear that if elected I will devolve the mayoral powers back to the cabinet and councillors as a whole as a step towards a more open and democratic system.
“The current system reduces the council to a talking shop and that is why we are seeing too many decisions like Churston Golf Club and Princess Gardens being recalled.”
Darren Cowell added: “We would support a letter signed by all the political parties in The Bay as well as any Independents and Torbay Trades Union Council, who have also called for an end to the current system.”
Resolution from Tories on the Elected Mayor System says: ‘That this council urges the Secretary of State, Mr Eric Pickles, to scrap the elected mayor system at the expiration of the next four year term and allow the people of Torbay to choose a more democratic and transparent form of local government.’
(from a press release)
