To: Cumberland Council

Call for Referendum on Cumberland Council having a directly elected Mayor as its Leader

The electorate of Cumberland call for a referendum to be held on the question of should Cumberland have a directly elected mayor as its leader and the councils structure switch form a leader cabinet style to that of an elected mayor.

Why is this important?

The changes to local government in Cumbria have see the elections to the new council of Cumberland take place with the 46 new council memebrs elected to represent the wards they have been elected in.

However from the majority group that now controls the council the political group will select the leader of the council and the leader the cabinet memebrs.

This petition calls for the new Cumberland Council to hold a public referendum on the question of should Westmorland and Furness change its structure to have a directly elected mayor as its leader that the voting public select rather than the leaded be selected behind closed doors by memebrs of the majority party on the council.

A directly elected mayor would enable voters the choice of who leads the council and would represent the entire council area rather than a leader that is elected by a few 100 voters in a ward and then appointed by a political party/group as the council leader.

Democracy need the voting public to have a direct say on who leads our new council and directly elected Mayor to leaded Cumberland Council is the only way to deliver this.

Supoorting this petition as a registered voter in the Cumberland Council area will see a referendum held if enough sign the petition were the voting public get to say yes to a mayor. then an election would take place to elect a mayor directy to lead Cumberland council.

For each local authority there is an Executive. Depending on the local arrangements, the Executive is organised in one of three ways:
A Leader elected by the Council and a cabinet of Councillors; or
A directly elected Mayor and a council manager appointed by the Council.
What is a directly elected Mayor?
A directly elected Mayor is elected by all the voters in the Council’s area to be the head of the Council’s decision making body.
A directly elected Mayor should not be confused with a ceremonial Mayor.
Why is a referendum necessary?
The introduction of a directly elected Mayor is a significant constitutional change and so a referendum is held to give all voters in the area a chance to choose if they would want this to happen.
In order to call a referendum for a directly elected Mayor, a petition must be compiled which is signed by 5% of the number of local government electors that are shown in the current Register of Electors. This 5% figure is called the ‘verification figure’ and is published annually as a formal notice.
Please consider signing and sharing this petition calling for a public referendum on a directly elected mayor.

Cumbria, UK

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