People power should elect provosts and mayors, says former Edinburgh leader

DIRECTLY elected mayors and provosts would improve local democracy, a former leader of Edinburgh City Council has argued.

Keith Geddes, who is also a past president of Cosla, said coalitions at council level "do not provide a model best-suited to allowing local political leadership to come forward".

Writing in today's Scotsman, Mr Geddes said directly elected mayors had proven a success in London and other cities, and in Scotland could help counterbalance the centralising of so many decisions with the Scottish Government.

But the SNP responded that the record in England was "patchy" on the subject and said it was contradictory to argue for more local powers, while vesting them all in one individual.

Mr Geddes wrote: "Successive administrations both pre– and post devolution have displayed a remarkable lack of creativity when considering the future of Scottish local government. Single solutions have been applied throughout Scotland. Innovation has been conspicuous by its absence.

"If Scottish local government is to be revitalised it would be surely be worthwhile at the least to give consideration to introducing the concept of directly elected leaders to one of Scotland's cities. And why not Edinburgh?"

Directly elected mayors were introduced by the Labour government in Westminster to England and Wales in 2000 and since then, 37 referendums have been held on whether to establish the post in English local authorities. Just 12 have been passed, and 25 were rejected by voters.

An SNP spokeswoman said: "We are always open to new ideas to boost local democracy, but elected mayors is now an old idea with a decidedly patchy record south of the Border.

"There is also a contradiction between seeking to enhance local decision-making with vesting more powers in a single person."

John Park, Labour MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, said there was no current party policy on elected mayors or provosts in Scotland, but added that anything to increase the accountability of politicians should be considered.

He said: "Keith Geddes has a lot of experience in local government in Scotland and carries weight across the political spectrum.

"Politics is in a pretty difficult place right now and we have to make sure we are doing things that make politics more democratically accountable."

"All politicians need to focus on how we reinforce and develop politics in Scotland. Any debate about how we make politicians more accountable and the decisions they make relevant to the public is welcome," he added.

The Scottish Conservative party have included proposals for directly elected mayors in their last two Scottish manifestos, said Derek Brownlee MSP, the party's spokesman for finance.

"It has long been our policy that there should be local provosts or mayors in Scotland's major towns and cities where there is local demand," he said.

"Conservatives believe in devolving power and responsibility as close to the people as possible and in letting local democracy flourish."

Nobody was available from the Scottish Liberal Democrats for comment last night.