West of England Combined Authority UK map

The mayor of the West of England is the directly elected mayor who leads the

West of England Combined Authority The West of England Combined Authority (WECA), branded as the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority, is a combined authority within the West of England combined authority area, consisting of the local authority areas of Bristol, South G ...

. The body, a

combined authority A combined authority (CA) is a type of local government institution introduced in England outside Greater London by the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009. CAs are created voluntarily and allow a group of local au ...

, is responsible for strategic administration, including planning, transport and skills, across the local authority areas 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 ...

South Gloucestershire South Gloucestershire is a unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of Gloucestershire, South West England. Towns in the area include Yate, Chipping Sodbury, Kingswood, Thornbury, Filton, Patchway and Bradley Stoke. The southern p ...

, and

Bath and North East Somerset Bath and North East Somerset (B&NES) is a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority district in Somerset, South West England. Bath and North East Somerset Council was created on 1 April 1996 following the abolition of the county of Avon. ...

. The creation of the role was agreed in 2016 as part of a

devolution deal The Cities and Local Government Devolution Act 2016 (c. 1) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that allows for the introduction of directly elected mayors to combined authorities in England and Wales and the devolution of housing, ...

, by the then

Chancellor Chancellor () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many countries. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the (lattice work screens) of a basilica (court hall), which separa ...

George Osborne George Gideon Oliver Osborne (born 23 May 1971) is a British retired politician and newspaper editor who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2010 to 2016 and as First Secretary of State from 2015 to 2016 in the Cameron government. A ...

and the leaders of the three councils. The West of England Combined Authority Order 2017, which created the body with effect from 9 February 2017, specifies that mayoral elections are to be held every fourth year, commencing on 4 May 2017. At first, elections used the

supplementary vote 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 ...

system, where electors voted for "first preference" and "second preference" candidates. If no candidate received a majority of first-choice votes, all but the two leading candidates were eliminated and the votes of those eliminated were redistributed according to their second-choice votes to determine the winner. The 2025 West of England mayoral election used

first past the post First-past-the-post (FPTP)—also called choose-one, first-preference plurality (FPP), or simply plurality—is a single-winner voting rule. Voters mark one candidate as their favorite, or First-preference votes, first-preference, and the cand ...

as required by the

Elections Act 2022 The Elections Act 2022 (c. 37) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that was introduced to the House of Commons in July 2021, and received royal assent on 28 April 2022. The act made photo identification compulsory for in-person vo ...

. The first election on 4 May 2017 was won by Tim Bowles with a total of 70,300 votes, including second preferences. The turnout was 29.7%, with 199,519 voting out of the possible 671,280. The mayor is a member of the

Mayoral Council for England The Mayoral Council for England is a political body in England that brings together ministers from the UK Government, the Mayor of London, and combined authority Directly elected mayors in England, mayors. History Background David Cameron's p ...

and the

Council of the Nations and Regions The Council of the Nations and Regions () is a quasi-intergovernmental political body in the United Kingdom. The council's members are the holders of the offices of Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, prime minister of the United Kingdom, F ...

List of mayors

;Timeline

Elections

2025

This election was run under

first-past-the-post First-past-the-post (FPTP)—also called choose-one, first-preference plurality (FPP), or simply plurality—is a single-winner voting rule. Voters mark one candidate as their favorite, or First-preference votes, first-preference, and the cand ...

for the first time.

2021

2017

Turnout in the election was: 29.3%

References

External links

West of England Combined Authority
{{Combined authorities

West of England The West of England is an area of South West England around the River Avon. The area has a local government combined authority that consists of the unitary authorities of Bristol, South Gloucestershire, and Bath and North East Somerset. The comb ...

Local government in Bristol Politics of Bristol Politics of Bath and North East Somerset Politics of South Gloucestershire District