Regional mayor will be ‘toothless’, claims police boss

GREATER Birmingham’s first directly elected mayor will be a “toothless tiger” playing second-fiddle to a committee of council bosses, the West Midlands Police commissioner has warned.

Writing for this week’s Birmingham Post, Labour commissioner David Jamieson has pulled no punches in his brutal assessment of the proposed London-style elected mayor being offered to voters in May 2017 – and has now called for the role to be beefed up.

He argues the metro mayor will be “impotent” and “smothered” by council leaders and bureaucrats who could out vote the mayor and set the budget.

He has now called for the role to be beefed up.

The West Midlands Combined Authority – the group of seven councils taking on new powers and funding from government for economic development and transport – is consulting over the powers of the new mayor.

Next week, the Labour Party will be the first to formally announce their candidate for the region following a vote of members – with former Erdington MP Sion Simon and former council social services chief Steve Bedser going head-tohead for the candidacy.

But now Mr Jamieson has delivered his most forceful criticism of the role yet.

He said: “It would appear the proposed mayor has been given as few powers as possible.

“This raises the question of whether an impotent or smothered mayor will demonstrate value for money and deliver the high ambitions for economic development and civic leadership.”

He added: “Put simply, what the people of the West Midlands are being offered is not fit for purpose and things need to change. Unless the plans for the region are bold, we risk falling behind not just Manchester but other areas that have got their act together.

“If we’re going to have an elected mayor they need sufficient power to deliver jobs, investment and the expectations of the people of the West Midlands.”

The West Midlands devolution deal will see £8 billion worth of public funds and investment handed down from government in London to the region.

But a key condition of the deal is that the region has a strong mayor directly accountable to the people.

Mr Jamieson goes on to warn that the Government could withdraw the deal if the mayor was not strong enough.

Public consultation over the mayor’s role and powers runs until August 18 and is available via the comined authority website.