Bristol’s new political system

» BRISTOL City Council has been led by a directly elected mayor since 2012. Voters first chose the independent George Ferguson to lead the city, and then Labour‘s Marvin Rees from 2016.

Both mayors were sometimes criticised as “dictatorial” by opponents, while supporters say the position led to more decisive action. A referendum was held in 2022, where voters decided to scrap the role and replace it with several committees of councillors.

Bristol ended up having a mayor after David Cameron, the former Conservative prime minister, wanted to give cities more power – despite also slashing funding for local councils. Out of 10 cities that held referendums on introducing the role, Bristol was the only one in 2012 to say yes. The first mayoral elections were held later that year, and a decade later the city decided to change its mind. Current mayor Mr Rees denied the decision in the 2022 referendum was due to voters’ experience of his administration, as he was planning to stand down this year. But several of his policies were brought up by opponents as examples why the mayoral role might not be the best way of running a city. These included filling his cabinet with Labour councillors, instead of picking politicians from different parties. When voters head to the polls on May 2, they will still be voting for 70 councillors to represent them. One of those councillors, likely Labour’s Tom Renhard or the Green’s Tony Dyer, will then become the council leader, a similar role to mayor but with fewer powers.