Anger at snub for mayor campaign

Councillors last night overwhelmingly rejected calls for the public to be allowed to vote on whether they want a directly-elected mayor - despite a referendum showing massive local support for the idea.

Now protesters want Local Government Minister Stephen Byers to intervene and force the Council to change its mind.

Last night's vote came just days after a major report into race relations criticised the lack of strong leadership in the district.

The report by a team led by former chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality, Lord Ouseley, strongly criticised Bradford's politicians for "kow-towing" to community leaders and a "doing deals" culture to avoid disturbances and keep the peace.

But three Labour councillors who put in an amendment to try to get a referendum at a two-hour debate in last night's Council meeting received no support from any of their colleagues on Britain's fourth biggest local authority.

The Council voted in favour of the existing system where the Council leader chairs an executive committee taking most of the key decisions.

But a massive public consultation exercise - which had the highest response in Britain - showed the majority of voters wanted some form of directly-elected mayor.

Some 17,939 people across the district wanted to stick with the existing set up, 13,053 members of the public were in favour of a system where people voted for their own mayor to lead a cabinet like the executive committee and 6,679 believed a 'people's' mayor should head the district with his own manager.

But now an independent campaign, set up to push for a referendum, is writing to Mr Byers asking him to step in over the Council's decision not to give the people a say.

The Council's decision to stay with the present system will ultimately need the approval of Mr Byers and the authority is bound by law to show that it has taken into account the views of the electorate.

Jim O'Neill, co-ordinator of The People's Choice, said: "It is very sad, and very wrong that the thousands of people who want a mayoral system are not even getting the chance to vote in a referendum."

All councillors had the first free vote for more than a decade on the issue after the three main political groups removed the Whips because of the importance of the issue.

An amendment supported by Labour's assistant chief whip Tony Niland (Bowling), Gary Seekins (Lab, Heaton) and Adrian Longthorne (Lab, Wyke) calling for a referendum on an elected mayor was defeated, receiving no support from their colleagues.

Councillor Seekins said: "It is obvious the people of Bradford want a change and there is a moral obligation to go for a referendum. Ignore this at your peril. You will alienate people and damage local democracy."

He said if the Council turned down a referendum people would believe it made decisions behind closed doors and was undemocratic.

Coun Niland said: "This issue is a lot bigger than 90 of us here. Everyone in the district should play a part."

The Council's Tory deputy leader Coun Richard Wightman said nearly half of the people who had responded to the public consultation exercise had chosen a leader and executive. "I won't do anything which makes an elected mayor more likely."

Liberal Democrat Councillor Howard Middleton said the system would not work in a city like Bradford with different communities. "The only way to get it to work would be to break up the district. We are looking at the wrong solution at the wrong time."

Labour Councillor Mukhtar Ali (University) said he believed the mayoral system would lead to faster decision making, but it would leave too much power with one person and could lead to corruption and favouritism.

Coun Simon Cooke (Con, Bingley Rural) warned an elected mayor would be a disaster for Bradford.

An amendment by Councillor Dave Green (Lab, Odsal) calling for further consultation and research on a structure and a meeting with a Government minister was also defeated.