The Mayor of Bristol was the political leader of

Bristol City Council Bristol City Council is the local authority for the city of Bristol, in South West England. Bristol has had a council from medieval times, which has been reformed on numerous occasions. Since 1996 the council has been a unitary authority, being ...

. The mayor was a directly elected politician who, along with the 70 members of Bristol City Council, was responsible for the strategic government of the city of

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

, England. The role was created after a local referendum held on 3 May 2012, which followed the passage of the

Localism Act 2011 The Localism Act 2011 (c. 20) is an Act of Parliament that changes the powers of local government in England. The aim of the act is to facilitate the devolution of decision-making powers from central government control to individuals and commun ...

. 41,032 voted for an elected mayor and 35,880 voted against, with a turnout of 24%. An election for the new post was held on 15 November 2012. The final mayor was Marvin Rees, elected on 5 May 2016, who stepped down on 3 May 2024. The post of Lord Mayor of Bristol is a separate office, elected each May by city councillors and taking office on 29 September for a one-year period. The Lord Mayor chairs Council meetings and performs ceremonial functions in the city. On 7 December 2021, Bristol City Council voted in favour of holding another referendum on the position of mayor in May 2022, with regards to whether to retain the position or return to decision-making by councillors. The referendum result was to abolish the position, and replace it with a committee system at the end of the current mayoral term in May 2024.

Background

The

Local Government Act 2000 The Local Government Act 2000 (c. 22) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales. Its principal purposes are: * to give powers to local authorities to promote economic, social and envi ...

required local authorities in England to move from the traditional committee-based system of decision making to one based on an executive, also allowing the possibility of a directly elected mayor. The first directly elected mayor was in

Greater London Greater London is an administrative area in England, coterminous with the London region, containing most of the continuous urban area of London. It contains 33 local government districts: the 32 London boroughs, which form a Ceremonial count ...

in 2000. Others followed in other authorities, including

Hartlepool Hartlepool ( ) is a seaside resort, seaside and port town in County Durham, England. It is governed by a unitary authority borough Borough of Hartlepool, named after the town. The borough is part of the devolved Tees Valley area with an estimat ...

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

Tower Hamlets The London Borough of Tower Hamlets is a borough in London, England. Situated on the north bank of the River Thames and immediately east of the City of London, the borough spans much of the traditional East End of London and includes much of ...

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

and

Salford Salford ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in Greater Manchester, England, on the western bank of the River Irwell which forms its boundary with Manchester city centre. Landmarks include the former Salford Town Hall, town hall, ...

Referendum campaigns

2012 referendum

Following the passage of The City of Bristol (Mayoral Referendum) Order 2012 by the

United Kingdom Parliament The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of ...

in February 2012, a referendum was announced for 3 May 2012. Nine other cities also held referendums on the same day:

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

Bradford Bradford is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the Local Government Act 1972, 1974 reform, the city status in the United Kingdo ...

Coventry Coventry ( or rarely ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands county, in England, on the River Sherbourne. Coventry had been a large settlement for centurie ...

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne, or simply Newcastle ( , Received Pronunciation, RP: ), is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is England's northernmost metropolitan borough, located o ...

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

and

Wakefield Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 109,766 in the 2021 census, up from 99,251 in the 2011 census. The city is the administrative centre of the wider Metropolit ...

. In addition,

Doncaster Borough Council City of Doncaster Council is the local authority of the City of Doncaster, a metropolitan borough with city status in South Yorkshire, England. Prior to being awarded city status in 2022 the council was called Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Cou ...

voted to hold a referendum on the same day to decide whether or not to retain their existing elected mayoral system, having been one of the earliest authorities to adopt the mayoral system in 2001. Campaigning groups supporting (A Mayor for Bristol) and opposing (Bristol Says No!) an elected mayor were established. A debate organised by the

University of Bristol The University of Bristol is a public university, public research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Merchant Venturers' school founded in 1595 and University College, Br ...

took place in the Council House on 22 February 2012. During the campaign, there were complaints that many voters did not receive leaflets produced by the city council explaining what the referendum was about. Cities minister,

Greg Clark Gregory David Clark (born 28 August 1967) is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy from 2016 to 2019. He also was Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government from 2015 t ...

accused the council of inaccuracies in the leaflet and refused to cover the printing costs. After Clark promised more powers would be available to Bristol with an elected mayor, the city council accused him of "blackmail". The result, declared on 4 May 2012 by returning officer Stephen McNamara, was in favour of creating the position. Bristol was the only one of the ten cities voting that day to choose to have an elected mayor.

2022 referendum

On 7 December 2021, the majority of elected Councillors backed a legally binding motion to hold a referendum on the future of the role of the Elected Mayor of Bristol. In May 2022, the people of Bristol voted to abolish the role of mayor in the referendum, with a turnout of 28.6%. The position ceased to exist in 2024, at the end of Rees's second term.

Elections

The first election for the new post was held on 15 November 2012, the same day as elections for a police and crime commissioner for the

Avon and Somerset Constabulary Avon and Somerset Police is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement in the five unitary authority areas of Bristol, Bath and North East Somerset, North Somerset, Somerset, and South Gloucestershire, all in South West Englan ...

area. A number of potential candidates expressed and interest in standing, and 15 candidates stood for election to be mayor. The

supplementary vote system The contingent vote is a two-stage electoral system that elects a single representative, in which the winner receives a majority of votes. It uses ranked voting. The voter ranks the candidates in order of preference, and when the votes are f ...

is used for the elections, with each voter being entitled to list a first and second choice candidate. In this system if no candidate has more than half of the votes plus one in the first round of counting, all candidates other than the top two are eliminated and voters' second choices from the eliminated candidates are then allocated to the remaining candidates. The second election for mayor of Bristol took place in May 2016.

2012

Turnout at the election was 27.92%.

2016

Turnout in the election was 44.87%.

2021

Because of the 2020

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, elections for the mayor of Bristol were delayed from 2020 to May 2021. The mayoral term following these elections was shortened by a year. Turnout at the election was 41.15%.

List of mayors since 2012

References

{{United Kingdom local elections, 2016 Local government in Bristol

2012 establishments in England 2024 disestablishments in England