The Centre for Cities is a big fan of directly-elected, metropolitan mayors. We've been saying for ages that our biggest city-regions like Greater Manchester need directly-elected "metro mayors", with real financial powers - including direct control over transport, housing and training budgets.

The Government yesterday inched a tiny little bit closer to that position - see page 44 (out of 56) of this consultation paper, Strengthening Local Democracy launched by the latest Communities Secretary John Denham. It sets out four options for running city-regions like Greater Manchester - but doesn't include any proposals on beefing up local government finance.

Here are the four options, with my spin on Greater Manchester:

  • No change: The ten council leaders within Greater Manchester pick one of their own to be a figurehead. This is currently Wigan leader, Peter Smith. No new powers. (Bit rubbish)
  • Big two-tier metropolitan authority: Set up a new directly-elected sub-regional authority of Greater Manchester, on top of the existing ten councils. (Very complicated)
  • Metro mayor: Directly-elected mayor for all of Greater Manchester, with strategic powers - held in check by  existing ten local councils. (Great, but those "strategic powers" need to include financial powers)
  • London-style mayor: Directly-elected Greater Manchester mayor, plus directly-elected Greater Manchester assembly. (What happens to the existing ten councils?)

I was in Manchester yesterday, just after Denham launched this - was speaking to Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce, with Peter Smith. See this report in the FT.

As chair of the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities (AGMA), Lord Smith is currently the public face of Greater Manchester. He and Manchester leader Richard Leese both prefer the "no change" option - no surprise there, as they are both incumbent council leaders.

Peter said yesterday that Greater Manchester isn't yet "sophisticated enough" to go for its own directly-elected mayor. Instead, he and Richard would rather negotiate some additional powers out of Whitehall. They met with Chief Secretary, Liam Byrne, and other ministers on Monday - to discuss how Greater Manchester could take on more powers over skills and transport, etc.

I agree with Peter and Richard that Greater Manchester is the way forward. But the "no change" option is not the best way to get there. Greater Manchester would get those powers much quicker with its own "metro mayor".

A "metro mayor" for Greater Manchester would have a personal, direct mandate from a large slice of its 2.5 million residents - a much bigger mandate than the average minister. And a Greater Manchester mayor would be able to extract more powers from Whitehall.

John Denham's proposals, and Greater Manchester's plans, are too incremental and piecemeal. If we really want more powerful cities, we need "metro mayors". If this Government wants to hold on to power, it will have to be much bolder and give some away. Time to include metro mayors in your Manifesto, Gordon.


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