Bristol Votes 'Yes' to Elected Mayor - We Need a Progressive Response...

bristol | local government | news report Saturday May 05, 2012 05:25 by opine

So the Tory plan for 'democracy' of centralising powers under a Mayor has got a pathetic yes vote from Bristol.  About 41K people voted yes vs around 36K voting no of a 24% turnout - which is about 15%odd of the cities voters deciding the fate for the rest of us.

So that's it then?  In remember the city that voted a Monkey in a major?  Protest votes can work.  With developer friendly people like red-trousergate star George Fergeson eye-ing the top stop I think we face a question; continue to oppose/ignore elected positions and allow the small clique of people who've tried to decide our fate for us to carry on imposing decisions on us, or to see if we can turn this into an embarrasment for the powers that be.

Imagaine voting in a Pirate Party mayor (after all we're a city of pirates) or a campaiger opposed to developments on park lands.  The plus of a low turnout is that it does not take many people to push it the other way and the 85% of people who didn't vote for a mayor might be persuaded to go for a radical (and/or comedy) alternative.  There is also the Greens who did oppose this - should we back thier bid for mayor?  After all it's a lot to stand (£5K I hear).

Thoughts?