Bristolians will have an opportunity on 5th May to keep the current mayoral system or to scrap it and revert to a Council, where councillors in committees make the key decisions.
In our view it's not just about the deficiencies of the current Mayor. The mayoral system itself is fundamentally flawed, as it puts too much power into the hands of one person. Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely!
There are almost no checks or balances. Councillors can only offer advice, which the Mayor can ignore. For example, all councillors - Labour, Conservative, LibDem and Green - voted in favour of a Bristol Arena. The Mayor said he noted the unanimous view of councillors, but a few days later cancelled the project. That's not democracy. Again, had there been appropriate checks and balances the Mayor would not have been able to waste c£50M of your money on Bristol Energy.
We shall be voting for a return of local democracy on 5th May.
We hope you will join us!
Councillors John Goulandris & Henry Michallat
