Can't be bothered or can't be heard?

Manchester Town Hall won't house an elected mayor

Two thirds of people in Manchester do not want an elected mayor, according to a consultation performed by the city council.

But the significance of the result has been called into question after only 3,000 of the 200,000 voting slips sent out by the council were returned.

Andy Bowman of The Mule, a non-profit website which features news and views about Manchester, told BBC Radio Manchester that the response was "not very inspiring".

The Deputy Leader of Manchester City Council, Jim Battle, disagreed, saying that Manchester went a lot further than many other local authorities.

"We sent to every household and we did a lot of publicity," he said. "Just over 3,000 people responded, whereas, in somewhere like Westminster, only 8 people responded."

BBC News: Few reply in elected mayor study

Two options

The question of an elected mayor was raised after the passing of the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act (2007).

MAYOR OR NO MAYOR? The Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act (2007) stipulates that all councils must choose between: 1. a leader and cabinet executive model, similar to the present council system 2. an elected mayor and cabinet, much like London has with Boris Johnson Manchester's results in full

Under the Act, all councils in England must choose between two possible leadership structures, one that includes an elected mayor and one that doesn't. (see fact box)

Both options were explained in the 'It's your Manchester' leaflet posted to all households in the city.

However, Andy said this was a "cosmetic way" to look at the whole idea of regional government and said he was not surprised at the low turnout.

"We seemed to be being asked to swap one extremely centralised, hierarchical system of government for another even more centralised, hierarchical system," he said.

Adding: "With the mayor, you get a lot of personality politics coming into things and elected councillors, who have better contact with local people, having their role reduced."

The problem, he said, was also down to "a crisis of legitimacy for politicians" which meant people were finding it difficult to trust their representatives, something he said could be tackled by putting "more power out at the bottom, rather than pushing more up at the top."

'Apathy'

But does a low vote mean that Mancunians are disinterested in politics?

I think we should be looking to devolve more power to the neighbourhoods, rather than shuffling the deckchairs at the top Andy Bowman, The Mule

No, said Andy, insisting that they were simply 'disenfranchised' and that their apparent apathy could be seen as a wish to maintain the status quo.

"I wouldn't say that not participating means you are satisfied. Apathy is often because people feel that, whatever they do, it's not going to make a difference.

"I think people would be keen to have more of a day-to-day say in the way that their local areas are run.

"Obviously, in a city the size of Manchester, you couldn't have people engaging in every decision, but I think we should be looking to devolve more power to the neighbourhoods, rather than shuffling the deckchairs at the top."

So was Manchester's response to having an elected mayor because of a flawed consultation process? Or because there is no desire in the city for an elected mayor? Are Mancunians politically apathetic?

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