Nine years ago, in an article in The MJ, entitled 'Looking for leadership?'(13 September 1996), I suggested that introducing elected mayors into UK local government could strengthen local leadership if councils were given enough power to take action on behalf of their communities. The Labour Government elected in 1997 picked up the first idea, but overlooked the second. A consequence is that the UK debate about elected mayors went off the rails for several years. Too many commentators focused on the leadership role of mayors in other countries and forgot about the importance of political power - particularly financial power- underpinning the performance the very best mayors in the US and elsewhere.
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