#Lewisham2014

[Eagle]

I have looked at the manifesto of PBF or whatever they are. Seems Stalinist to me without the tanks.

Profit makes the world go round. Human Beings need incentive .

[SquashedCommuter]

I have looked at the manifesto of PBF or whatever they are. Seems Stalinist to me without the tanks.

Profit makes the world go round. Human Beings need incentive .

I'm interesting to hear what makes them Stalinist. Which parts made you say that?

I definitely would agree that profit is a good thing. But I also can't disagree with the expression "People Before Profit". For example you wouldn't kill people to make a profit would you? So People do come before Profit.

My concern is that they appear to be both against cuts and against debt at the same time but don't seem to reconcile both these into a workable solution that will save Lewisham from its impending bankruptcy.

[leenewham]

Bullock wins again. http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-27551862

I think these elections should be limited in the number of terms. Same with prime minister.

[leenewham]

The lewisham website still isn't working but it looks like we now have an almost totally red council aside from one green.

Alex Feaks lost his seat, which I find surprising as I thought he was a really good local representative.

I find it odd that in a local election people vote for party over person. I'm also not so sure how healthy it is to have a council dominated so heavily by one party, especially one that it's own mayor says has a problem with bureaucracy.

[Robin Orton]

The lewisham website still isn't working but it looks like we now have an almost totally red council aside from one green.

http://www.lewisham.gov.uk/mayorandcoun ... -2014.aspx seems to be working at last. One Green in Brockley, everyone else Labour. Not a very healthy situation, I'd have thought.

[Chris Best]

The count finished at 3am so not all the details included on the web site but the Labour Party had a memorable night in Lewisham taking 53 of the 54 seats. As you know Lee we have been knocking on doors and listening to residents concerns with local issues and helping to resolve where we can. From the national position the Lib Dem vote collapsed, UKIP took votes from the Tories (they lost Grove Park) and Labour supporters voted on a turnout that was higher than in the past. Special thanks to everyone that voted in Sydenham and I will continue to work hard for the local community.

[marymck]

Turnout for the mayoralelection was way down on last time. Was there ever a local referendum on whether Lewisham people wanted to fund a mayor?

[Eagle]

What a surprise. Sir Steve won. I am amazed at such an unexpected result.

Mary
Only vote as to whether one wanted a directly elected Mayor. You want a vote to see whether we still want one. Dream on , politics does not work like that.

[marymck]

What a surprise. Sir Steve won. I am amazed at such an unexpected result.

Mary
Only vote as to whether one wanted a directly elected Mayor. You want a vote to see whether we still want one. Dream on , politics does not work like that.

No, it was a genuine question. I didn't know there had been a referendum. As you say there has been, fair enough. I wasn't living in the borough at the time.

I'm surprised there are no rules as to how many years he can told office and I think having a mayor is a complete waste of our money.

[Eagle]

Mary

I am sure there was a vote but dread to think what the turn out was. I would have voted NO.

Complete and utter waste of money.

You do raise a valid point why should we not have a vote every 10 years as to whether we want to continue with this policy, or return to the cheaper option.

[Tadpole]

There was a vote for do you want a mayor but it was worded in such a way that I thought it sounded bias towards having one. I did call the council and tell them my thoughts on their pro's and con's of having one and basically got told I where to go.
I voted against and would love another opportunity to get rid of the Mayor. Total waste of money in my opinion.

[Robin Orton]

According to Wikipaedia, the referendum on having a directly elected mayor in Lewisham was in 2001. 16,822 voted for - 51.4% of those who voted.

[Eagle]

Thanks Robin for reminding me.

About 9,000 out of about 280,000. I agree not all old enough to vote but even if only 200,000 over 18 then about 4.5% voted for the Mayor.

However , surprise surprise the Central Committee pressed on regardless.

It is called democracy .

[marymck]

I wonder what the wording of that vote was?

If memory serves, Thurs turnout was about 37%, of which a tad over 50% voted for Steve Bullock.

[Chris Best]

Yes Mary the turnout was 73,204 (37.2%) and Steve received 36,659 votes with the Conservative Party candidate coming second with 8,041. Given that Steve has been re-elected by over 50% of the voters on first preferences this is sound support for the hard work and experience he brings to the role. This is a democracy and on both ballot papers for the Mayor and Sydenham you had a choice of 7 parties - the Labour Party received solid support with 53 out of 54 seats.

A bit of background - directly-elected mayors were first introduced in the UK by the Local Government Act 2000 to create "executive arrangements" in place of the committee system. At that time they could only be created following a referendum in favour in the relevant local authority.

In Lewisham, the Bring Back Democracy campaign called for a new referendum, citing poor turnout and a very close result in the 2001 referendum. In April 2007, Lewisham Council voted 28–24 against a motion calling for consultation over the issue.

The Localism Act 2011 (schedule 2) permitted local authorities to reintroduce the committee system if they wanted to. The other option is an indirectly-elected council leader with a cabinet executive - also with a four year term of office, voted on by the existing councillors so both systems offer the mayor/leader 4 years of continuity.

If you want to change the system the minimum threshold for a valid petition is 5% of local government electors registered in the local authority’s area to hold a referendum. Lewisham has an eligible electorate of just under 200,000.

[Robin Orton]

About 9,000 out of about 280,000. I agree not all old enough to vote but even if only 200,000 over 18 then about 4.5% voted for the Mayor.

Where do you get 9000 and 4.5% from? 16,822 (number voting for having an elected mayor) is 8.4% of 200, 000. Still a tiny number, I agree. I am slightly surprised (perhaps I shouldn't be) to hear from Chris Best that, given the low turn out and the very close result, the Council voted in 2007 not to consult on re-opening the issue.

I voted against in 2001, although I believe that on the whole Sir Steve seems to have done a good job.

[Chris Best]

From memory Robin one the main reasons to keep the Directly elected mayoral system is the accountability to the electorate. At the time the other option was the leader with a 4 year term elected by the Councillors. Since that time there is now the option to return to the old Committee system with Chairs of Committee reporting to Council. The governance arrangements of local government are dependant on legislation from central government and we now have an executive where decisions are made (Mayor & Cabinet) and then scrutinised by the rest of the Council. Remuneration for any of the posts are set by an Independent body and there is a similarity across London. In both systems there are the quasi-judicial committees such as planning and licensing.

[Eagle]

Robin

My percentages were very approx number of votes cast for, our good Mayor , not total vote.

Hope I have not made any mistakes.

It is amazing that if you run a plebiscite to change the way you are governed you go ahead with 4.5% of the Vote.

[Robin Orton]

From memory Robin one the main reasons to keep the Directly elected mayoral system is the accountability to the electorate.

Councillors are directly accountable to the electorate, surely. In the same way as MPs are; the Prime Minister is accountable to them, not directly to us - we don' t have a directly elected President.

My percentages were very approx number of votes cast for, our good Mayor , not total vote. [...] Hope I have not made any mistakes.It is amazing that if you run a plebiscite to change the way you are governed you go ahead with 4.5% of the Vote.

Are you talking about the referendum or this week's election? If the former, 16,822 is 8.4% of 200,000, as I said. If the latter, 36,659 is 18.3% of 200,000. Still don't know where you get 9000 and 4.5% from.

[Eagle]

Robin

Apologies. I was confusing the yes vote with the total vote.

However if about 1 in 11 supports your policy for change , do you do nothing or decide to change anyway as you know best.

I agree surely all local representatives are , or should be , accountable.