Metro mayor must work with, and cannot rule over, our 7 council leaders

"Does having a metro mayor mean that local authority leaders have less power?

The metro mayor works together with leaders of the local authority to create a strategy for the wider area, but local authorities will still be responsible for most public service delivery (such as children and adults’ social care, waste management, and recreational facilities). The metro mayor’s job is to focus on wider issues that span beyond individual local authority boundaries, such as local labour markets, skills training, housing markets and transport infrastructure and services."

"metro mayor-led combined authorities", is used

"Metro mayors give more cities the opportunity to take advantage of powers, funding and leadership that Greater London has benefited from at the city-region scale since 2000."

"Metro mayors cannot be removed as long as the devolution deal and arrangements are in place – this is because a metro mayor is required by law in order to negotiate the devolution of powers. But it is possible for the full combined authority, along with the mayor, to be abolished in its entirety."

"What checks and balances are the directly-elected metro mayors subject to?

"An important part of the devolution deals negotiated between combined authorities and national government was deciding how the new metro mayors will be scrutinised and held to account.

"In the current devolution deals, the metro mayor chairs the combined authority cabinet, which is made up of the leaders from each local authority.  Rather than the stronger executive powers and assembly scrutiny model that is used in London, most of the deals have agreed that the new metro mayors have to consult the combined authority cabinet on their strategies. These can be rejected if two thirds of the cabinet members do not agree with them. The cabinet also reviews the metro mayors’ spending plans, and is able to amend these with a two-thirds majority.

"In addition, the 2016 Bill requires all combined authorities to set up at least one overview and scrutiny committee. Each local authority within the combined authority will appoint one member. The committee has the power to suspend decisions put forward by the metro mayor and combined authority cabinet.

"The checks on metro mayors are higher than that faced by the Mayor of London and other global counterparts such as the Mayors of New York and Paris. But while metro mayors are not able to take as many decisions affecting the whole area alone, they will have a significant democratic mandate and larger public profile compared to many of their cabinet colleagues."

The supplementary voting system, a shorter form of the alternative vote system, gives voters the opportunity to mark their first and second choice. If no candidate receives a majority in the first round, the top two candidates continue to a second round while the rest are eliminated. The second-choice votes of everyone whose first choice was eliminated is counted.

FROM:-   https://www.centreforcities.org/publication/everything-need-know-metro-mayors/#doeshaving