From attracting investment to building relationships, Britain’s regional mayors reckon they have many transferable skills.
Sascha O\'Sullivan
As prime minister, Burnham will be in charge of not just spending money but generating revenue for Treasury’s coffers. So constrained are mayors financially that almost every one has, at some point, called for more devolution on taxes.
Mayors’ financial firepower is “very, very minor,” says Street.
“It is a very different job when you are basically seeking money from Westminster than you are having to decide on the tax and spend piece of the whole country,” Street adds.
Ward, the East Midlands mayor, adds: “We’ve not been able to make as many decisions as we would like to. So for me, I don’t have all the flexibilities on funding. I can’t make decisions to shift, you know, aspect some parts of the budget from capital to revenue. So I don’t have those full flexibilities.”
A personal mandate
Metro mayors are directly elected — they have a personal mandate from the people they serve, and are therefore well-acquainted with copping the blame if things go wrong. Not a bad skill to have as prime minister.
Godwin, the West of England mayor, says: “Our personal mandates will be bigger than any MP in terms of voter numbers. I think Sadiq’s mandate is the biggest in U.K. history, in terms of the number of people who physically put a cross against his name.”
