Tories Launch Campaign for H&F to Have A Directly Elected Mayor
But council leader Stephen Cowan says 'We would win' if switch took place
L to r: Cllr Andrew Brown, Stephen Greenhalgh, Greg Hands and Cllr Victoria Brocklebank-Fowler
Local Tories, led by Chelsea and Fulham MP Greg Hands and former H&F Council Leader Stephen Greenhalgh have launched a campaign to have Hammersmith & Fulham run by a directly elected mayor.
This alternative to the traditional system, in which the council is run by a leader - currently Cllr Stephen Cowan - and a cabinet, was devised by Tony Blair and first used in the year 2,000.
Elected mayors are already in place in Labour run councils in Hackney, Newham, Lewisham and Tower Hamlets, and the Conservatives believe Hammersmith & Fulham could become the first to have a Tory mayor.
Unlike the current system in which the role of mayor is ceremonial, elected mayors would have more power to run local services.
Stephen Greenhalgh, who was H&F council leader from 2006 until 2012 and London's first Deputy Mayor for Crime and Policing to Boris Johnson until 2016, looks set to the Tory candidate if the system is chosen.
Mr Greenhalgh, who has a Twitter account called @team_greehalgh and Greenhalgh for London website, said: "Hammersmith & Fulham residents deserve a directly-elected Mayor who is accountable to them."
Five per cent of voters — or 6,313 people — must back the idea for it to be put to a referendum. If the change is passed, elections would be in May 2022.
Greg Hands said: "Residents would benefit from a single point of accountability for council tax levels and the delivery of great local council services."
However, Cllr Cowan, who has been leader of the Labour run council since it took over the administration in 2014, said: " Five years ago Hammersmith and Fulham was known as David Cameron’s favourite Tory council and was seen as unwinnable by Labour. But in 2014 [council elections] Labour had a landslide. In last year’s election we had the biggest swing to Labour in the country in a competitive area.
"If they had a directly elected mayor, we would win it. "
March 26, 2019