Close-run thing should inspire electorate
THE genuine political contest should inspire people to vote and encourage them to carefully consider who they choose to be the first West Midlands mayor, say experts.
Andrew Carter, chief executive of the thinktank Centre for Cities, said: “The West Midlands is shaping up to be the closest race out of all the upcoming mayoral elections.
“Whoever becomes mayor will have the powers and mandate to make a big difference on issues that matter to people’s day-to-day lives, such as jobs, transport and housing. Hopefully the fact that there is a genuine political contest in the city region will inspire people across the West Midlands to get out and vote on May 4.”
Colin Copus, Professor of local politics from De Monfort University and a leading authority on mayoral systems, urged candidates to consider voters, areas and issues they would ignore in a traditional council election.
He said: “It can be in elections using this system that a candidate becomes a strong winner in the second round.
“But it also doesn’t mean that the candidate ahead at the first count will automatically win. Voters preferences for policy issues, when asked, won’t necessarily fit with the powers of the office they are being asked to elect. The mayor will have leverage over health and could use the office to influence NHS decisions beyond the actual power they have. Even if an office doesn’t have power over an issue, voters may still want to signal their thoughts on it by voting for a candidate that mirror their view.”
The candidates also responded to the survey.
Conservative Andy Street said: “When we started our campaign at the Conservative Party conference we knew we had a huge gap to close.
“This suggests we have done and the momentum is with us as we head into the final lap. It also suggests the importance of key issues like making a success of Brexit are registering with the public and they increasingly recognise the importance of strong leadership at this time.”
Lib Dem Beverley Nielsen said: “Polls can be very unreliable and their results notoriously misleading. We are sure that the General Election announcement has boosted our chances in the mayoral race. The best poll in our mind is the 5,000 people who have joined the Lib Dem Party in the last 24 hours.”
Liam Byrne MP, leading Siôn Simon’s campaign, said: “We are fighting hard to win. The choice is between a Labour Mayor, who’s really from here, and puts the West Midlands’ interests before everything else; or the Tory candidate, described as ‘London’s Ambassador to the West Midlands’, sent here as the Conservative Party’s ‘Yes Man’.”