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What Was the Political Difference Made by the Introduction of Executive Mayors in England?

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What Was the Political Difference Made by the Introduction of Executive Mayors in England? WHAT WAS THE POLITICAL DIFFERENCE MADE BY THE INTRODUCTION OF EXECUTIVE MAYORS IN ENGLAND? By Douglas Campbell A thesis submitted to the School of Government and Society The University of Birmingham for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Institute of Local Government Studies School of Government and Society The University of Birmingham November 2009 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. ABSTRACT The creation of eleven directly elected mayors in England between 2002 and 2005, as part of the Labour Government©s wider local government reform, altered local governance in those localities. The 1998 White Paper Modern Local Government identified three key weaknesses in the previous local government system: a lack of leadership, legitimacy and accountability. The main question the thesis sought to answer was: what was the political difference made by the introduction of executive mayors in England.? The key issue in this study was to assess if executive mayors have improved the efficiency, the transparency or the accountability of local government The investigation of the executive mayoral option employed an analytical framework to measure change on three dimensions of efficiency, transparency and accountability. To aid the investigation seven hypotheses were constructed from the government's White Papers to explore various aspects of executive mayors and assist in providing generalisable conclusions about the introduction of directly elected mayors. Leadership and representation theories were used to operationalise the concepts of leadership, legitimacy and accountability. Models were developed which mapped the locus of power in the council©s political space. Given the population of executive mayors was eleven local authorities for the period of the field research, a qualitative approach was adopted relying primarily on interviews augmented with documentary sources and observations. Election results were also analysed using conventional quantitative methods. With regard to elections, the study demonstrates that voters differentiate the office of executive mayor from other political posts. Other findings in this study indicate that one of the main political differences made by the introduction of executive mayors is the creation of a new balance between politicians and officials with the former being more dominant when determining policy matters while the senior officials taking the lead in administration and management. In addition, executive mayors have developed a better capability to challenge professional officers. The strength of executive mayors as leaders within their local authorities over the policy making process demonstrates a change from the operation of the previous system in England. The key person driving policy is now is the directly, clearly identifiable and more accountable executive mayor. This research has shown that directly elected mayors have made positive political differences which can be measured against the core goals of effective, transparent and accountable local government. Executive mayors demonstrate a continuity of governance in local government and have made a difference in the way local councils are run. i ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to acknowledge the dedicated support provided by Professor Colin Copus, my supervisor and the assistance of present and former members of staff at INLOGOV who have provided advice and robust challenge to my research: Dr Karin Bottom, Dr Alistair Clark and Chris Game. The staff at the University of Birmingham Library and the British Library greatly assisted my research by providing the works required and special thanks are also due to the staff at Redbridge, Bristol and Kensington and Chelsea Central libraries who also produced reference works, often at short notice. In particular, I would like to thank all the respondents who gave so freely of their time in agreeing to be interviewed and in providing such rich data from their answers. The variety of experiences they described cannot be given comprehensive treatment in a single work and it is to be hoped that others will continue to examine and explore the phenomenon of directly elected mayors in English local government. I would like to pay special tribute to my wife, Dr Casmir Chanda, and my mother Mrs Carol Campbell for their support in this work. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS WHAT WAS THE POLITICAL DIFFERENCE MADE BY THE INTRODUCTION OF EXECUTIVE MAYORS IN ENGLAND?.........................................................................1 ABSTRACT....................................................................................................................1 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS................................................................................................2 GLOSSARY OF TERMS...............................................................................................9 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION...............................................................................1 Background...............................................................................................................1 Executive Mayors: Diversity in Sparsity....................................................................5 Selection of the Sample..........................................................................................12 Methodology and Research Strategy......................................................................16 Exploring the Leadership, Legitimacy and Accountability Deficits..........................19 Structure of the Thesis............................................................................................23 CHAPTER TWO: THE SLOW EMERGENCE OF THE EXECUTIVE MAYORAL IDEA IN ENGLAND...............................................................................................................28 Introduction..............................................................................................................28 The First Challenges to Collective Decision-Making: 1967 -1991 ......................31 Executive Mayors as a Solution: 1997-2009 ......................................................37 Conclusion...............................................................................................................56 CHAPTER THREE: FROM THE BOROUGH TO THE PEOPLE ± EXECUTIVE MAYORS AND LOCAL POLITICAL LEADERSHIP.....................................................62 Introduction..............................................................................................................62 The Strong Local Leader: Government©s Vision of British Executive Mayors.........64 Defining ªLocal leadershipº: actions, power and influence.....................................69 Defining Leadership in a Local Government Context..............................................71 Setting the scope for local political leadership........................................................86 Conclusion ..............................................................................................................92 CHAPTER FOUR: THE PEOPLE TO THE BOROUGH - EXECUTIVE MAYORS AND THE CHALLENGE OF REPRESENTATION ..............................................................99 Introduction..............................................................................................................99 An Overview of Attitudes towards Representation................................................103 The Ancient World.............................................................................................103 Medieval Europe...............................................................................................106 The Post- Enlightenment and Early Victorian Eras...........................................108 Modern Concerns: Microcosm or Individual?....................................................111 Representation as Democracy or Government?...................................................114 The Role of Political Parties..............................................................................118 Executive mayoral representation and the ballot box: the role of elections......120 Definitions of ªpolitical representationº..............................................................123 Typologies of Representatives..........................................................................126 Conclusion.............................................................................................................128 CHAPTER FIVE: ELECTING EXECUTIVE MAYORS IN ENGLAND.......................134 Introduction ...........................................................................................................134 iii Choices about Choice: Which electoral system to use.........................................139 Political Party or Independent Person: The role of partisanship...........................149 Enthusiasm or Apathy: What happened at the ballot box.....................................151 Endorsing Mayors or Drowning in Confusion: The Mayoral Election
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