Mayor_of_Croydon

Mayor of Croydon

Mayor of Croydon

Directly-elected mayor of Croydon

The Mayor of Croydon is a directly elected mayor responsible for the executive function of Croydon London Borough Council. The current mayor is Jason Perry of the Conservative Party, elected in May 2022, and the first holder of the post.

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Background

The Local Government Act 2000 allowed local authorities to change from the leader-and-cabinet system of governance to a directly elected mayor model. The change needs to be established by a referendum, either arranged by the council or triggered by a petition. A campaign group supporting an elected mayor for Croydon called DEMOC started a petition to change to the mayoral system in February 2020, which they submitted to the council in September 2020. The mayoral system would replace the leader-and-cabinet system, whereby the leader of the council is chosen by the majority party or coalition of parties.

In January 2021, the council announced that a referendum would be held in October of that year.[2] The government minister Luke Hall said that the council should hold the referendum in May 2021 instead, alongside elections for the Mayor of London and London Assembly. The Labour councillor Sean Fitzsimons defended the choice to hold the referendum in October, saying that the prospective mayor could then be elected alongside the council in May 2022.[3] The council also cited technical limitations about how it could spend money under the terms of the council's section 114 notice which required Hall to amend the law to facilitate the referendum.[4] The Conservatives, including the Conservative MP Chris Philp, campaigned in favour of an elected mayor.[5] Labour opposed the mayoral system, including both Croydon Labour MPs. The Green Party also opposed the mayoral system, instead advocating a change to the committee system.[6]

Referendum

The referendum question was "How would you like the London Borough of Croydon to be run?", with the options being "By a leader who is an elected councillor chosen by a vote of the other elected councillors. This is how the council is run now." or "By a mayor who is elected by voters. This would be a change from how the council is run now."[7] The result of the referendum was a large majority in favour of the mayoral system, with more than 80% of valid votes being cast in favour of the change.[8]

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Elections

2022

The Conservatives selected their council group leader Jason Perry to be their mayoral candidate in October 2021.[10] Labour began their selection process in October 2021. The former deputy mayor of London Val Shawcross was selected as the Labour candidate in December 2021.[11] The Green Party selected Peter Underwood as their candidate in November 2021.[12] The businessperson Farah London, who stood as an independent candidate in the 2021 London mayoral election, was announced as the mayoral candidate for the Taking the Initiative Party.[13]

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List of elected mayors

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References

  1. [1]
    Local Government Act 2000, s 9H(2)
  2. [2]
    O'Connor, Tara (11 January 2021). "You'll soon be able to vote on whether Croydon should have an elected mayor". MyLondon. Retrieved 9 October 2021.
  3. [3]
    O'Connor, Tara (20 January 2021). "Croydon Council could hold a referendum on an elected mayor as soon as this May". MyLondon. Retrieved 9 October 2021.
  4. [4]
    Calkin, Sarah (9 February 2021). "Croydon defies minister over 'impossible' mayoral referendum". Local Government Chronicle (LGC). Retrieved 9 October 2021.
  5. [5]
    O'Connor, Tara (9 February 2021). "Referendum on Croydon mayor pushed back amid claims of 'sneaky dither and delay'". MyLondon. Retrieved 9 October 2021.
  6. [6]
    "Croydon mayor referendum: everything you need to know". South West Londoner. 6 October 2021. Retrieved 9 October 2021.
  7. [7]
    "Croydon Council public mayoral referendum set for 7 October". South West Londoner. 7 July 2021. Retrieved 9 October 2021.
  8. [8]
    "Croydon: Borough's voters choose directly-elected Mayor system in referendum". OnLondon. 8 October 2021. Retrieved 9 October 2021.
  9. [9]
    "Governance referendum 7 October 2021 | Croydon Council". www.croydon.gov.uk. Retrieved 9 October 2021.
  10. [10]
    O'Connor, Tara (12 October 2021). "Croydon politicians clash over mayoral candidates after landslide vote". MyLondon. Retrieved 19 October 2021.
  11. [11]
    O'Connor, Tara (21 December 2021). "Former Croydon leader plans run for mayor more than 20 years later". MyLondon. Retrieved 26 December 2021.
  12. [12]
    insidecroydon (15 November 2021). "Underwood selected as Green candidate for office he opposed". Inside Croydon. Retrieved 15 November 2021.
  13. [13]
    Reporter, News (27 January 2022). "Businesswoman aspires to be the first Mayor of Croydon". South London News. Retrieved 15 February 2022. {{cite web}}: |first= has generic name (help)
  14. [14]
    "5 May 2022 Election Results - Mayoral election results". Croydon Council. Retrieved 7 May 2022.
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