The four boundary commissions in the UK have to allow for various stages of public consultation during their general reviews of Parliamentary constituencies. The stages are summarised in this paper.
Documents to download
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Directly-elected mayors (279 KB, PDF)
The power to create directly-elected mayors was introduced into England and Wales by the Local Government Act 2000. A directly elected mayor and a cabinet is one of three different ‘political management arrangements’ available to local authorities: the others are a leader and cabinet, and the traditional ‘committee system’, where decisions are made by policy committees and approved by full council. Directly-elected mayors may be introduced in England and Wales, but not in Scotland or Northern Ireland.
Initially, an elected mayor could only be created following a referendum in favour in the relevant local authority. Since 2007, English local authorities have also been able to create an elected mayor by resolving to do so.
The majority of referendums on creating elected mayors have resulted in ‘no’ votes. Currently, 15 local authorities have elected mayors. This figure does not include the Mayor of London or the ‘metro-mayors’ in Greater Manchester and other areas, which are covered by separate legislation and have different powers from local authority mayors.
Mayors do not have powers over and above those available to non-mayoral local authorities.
Separate notes are available on the Mayor of London and the Greater London Authority, and on ‘metro-mayors’ in Devolution to Local Government in England.
Documents to download
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Directly-elected mayors (279 KB, PDF)
Related posts
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Parliamentary constituency boundaries are reviewed periodically by independent Boundary Commissions. This House of Commons Library briefing summarises the current rules and procedures for boundary changes and how they have changed over time. It also gives an overview how the number of MPs has reached the current number.
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The Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 creates a five year period between general elections. Early elections may only be held in specified circumstances. A joint committee has been appointed to undertake a statutory review of the Act and undertake pre-legislative scrutiny of Government proposals to repeal the Act.
