I had the vans advertising boards freshened up on Friday for this upcoming week.
As many of you will know, this week Birmingham and Coventry are having a vote on whether they should have elected mayors.
I am firmly in the no camp for many reasons,
After actively campaigning on the
streets of Birmingham and Coventry it is clear to me that there is no public
desire for an elected mayor
To make such
a fundamental change in local governance, it is for those who wish to pursue
change to make the case.
They have
failed to do so.
David
Cameron has made no secret of his hope that core cities across England will
choose to be governed by democratically elected mayors; however, he is not
offering to foot the bill.
My message
to David Cameron is “It’s the cost, stupid!”
Politicians
and entourages cost money, more to the point, tax-payers money. At a time of
public service cut backs and job losses, the last thing we want is another
overpaid, overinflated ego politician taking an extra cut.
We have seen
in the West Midlands the people of Stoke voting to remove an elected mayor, and
there will be a similar vote in Doncaster.
This is an
experiment we can ill afford in a time of austerity.
In my
opinion, we only need two layers of governance in the UK; local and central.
All else is expensive fluff and unnecessary.
The van shall be travelling around Birmingham and Coventry this week ahead of the votes on Thursday.
