Bristol Labour group promises 'constructive' talks after public vote

Bristol City Council's Labour group has promised to help make the committee system work after the referendum result to scrap Bristol's mayor.

Residents voted by 59% to 41% to abolish the position from 2024 and instead give groups of councillors the power to make decisions.

A cross-party working group will now draft a committee-based constitution.

Labour group leader Steve Pearce said his party had "a duty" to make the system work.

The referendum was triggered by a Liberal Democrat motion backed by the Greens and the Conservatives.

Cllr Pearce, who heads up the Labour group which wanted to retain the mayoral model - arguing that the committee system removed the public's right to vote for their city's leader - said: "The 2020s are such an important decade for Bristol.

"We recognise and accept the result. We're of course disappointed by it, but we have a duty to make the committee system work," he said, reported the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) Labour has agreed to have "constructive conversations" with other parties.

Cllr Peace said: "We may be reverting to an old form of governance, but this doesn't mean we'll undo the progress we've made. We have a mandate to lead the city until 2024 and we'll carry on with the job we were elected to do."

Voters were asked if they wanted to retain the current structure of directly-elected mayor and cabinet, which has been in place since 2012.

Alternatively, they had the option to switch to a committee system, in which decisions are made by groups of local councillors.

What ultimately made the difference was Labour losing its majority in the chamber.

The result means the political groups now have two years to work together with officers and other experts to determine the new system where full council will continue to set the budget and make some major decisions while delegating most other powers to committees.

The main opposition Green group leader, Cllr Heather Mack, said there had been an encouraging start as representatives from different parties were already agreeing on most issues.

Cllr Mack told BBC1's Politics West on Sunday: "I have already reached out to the other party group leaders and we are finding loads to collaborate on, loads to agree on already, so this is a step towards that more collaborative and more democratic way of working in Bristol."

After the vote was announced in the early hours of Friday, Mr Rees said the referendum was a "distraction" from the myriad crises facing the city but that it would not stop his administration continuing to deliver on its goals.

Bristol City Council said the result was likely to be ratified by councillors at a meeting later in May.

Follow BBC West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: [email protected]