Directly-elected Plymouth city mayor role scrapped

There will no longer be a directly-elected mayor for Plymouth, the government have confirmed.

The change comes just three weeks before Plymothians were due to go the polls on the issue of whether or not to have the £75,000-per-year role.

Campaigners from one group, the Plymouth Knows Better (PKB) - No to a City Mayor coalition, welcomed the news from Minister for Local Government Jim McMahon, who announced no new city mayors would be created.

McMahon said 13 current legacy directly-elected council mayors, and current Plymouth Lord Mayor Kathy Watkin, would continue in their roles, but a more "consistent approach" would be adopted in future "by not facilitating the creation of new ones".

He said: "We acknowledge that the path to reform is not without its challenges, which some local authorities will need to navigate to ensure successful implementation.

"Taken together, these measures will simplify local government and support democratic accountability for local people."

Plymouth City Council could still hold the referendum after the campaign, led by Angus Forbes, gathered more than 10,000 signatures.

Forbes said in April that the cost of the referendum was "the best money a Plymouth taxpayer could ever spend to change to a successful system of direct democracy".

McMahon said the regulations would move the date on which an inaugural election would be held following a council resolution or referendum in favour of a directly elected mayor from May 2026 to May 2027, which would "prevent taxpayers' money from being unduly wasted".

He said: "The regulations are of particular relevance to the Plymouth referendum due to be held on 17 July to determine whether to adopt mayoral governance for the council.

"Should the vote favour introducing a mayor, the inaugural mayoral election would move from May 2026 to May 2027.

"The extension of this period will allow parliament time to consider the legislation."

Local MP Luke Pollard said the scrapping of the role "should not surprise anyone".

He said: "It's the reason why I've been so vocal about what a waste of money this whole referendum has been.

"That money should have been spent on filling potholes or looking after kids in care."

A PKB spokesperson said local people would be "rightly angry" that public money had been used to fund the referendum.

It said: "Based on our many conversations with residents across the city, we are confident of winning the argument and the city will reject this costly experiment in any case.

"Time and again, people have told us they saw a city mayor as a waste of time and money."

To the casual observer, this might look like a theatrical bolt from the blue.

In reality, the question as to whether the government would not allow the creation of any more of these roles has hung over the campaign since the outset.

Back in December, the government set out its plans for local government and said it would discontinue mayoral devolution at single authority level.

The question was, did that simply mean it would not be allowing the creation of metro mayors with devolved powers for single local authorities as the Conservatives have been prepared to do?

Or did it also mean it would be getting rid of the old-fashioned council or city mayors like the one we used to have in Torbay and we would have had in Plymouth?

The answer today is it is discontinuing both, so we can say pretty confidently - whatever the outcome of next month's referendum - there will be no directly-elected mayor in Plymouth.

Follow BBC Devon on X, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected].