The man behind the campaign to have an elected Mayor for the city today called on the people of Plymouth to vote for a mayor to stop democracy being stolen from them.
Angus Forbes, sponsor of the Mayor for Plymouth campaign, accused the Government of cheating the people of Plymouth out of their right to choose how the city is led.
In an open letter to the residents of the city, Mr Forbes said that by voting on July 17, citizens will stand up to being lied to by career politicians who are trying to steal people’s democracy and freedom to choose.
He said: “Our opposition is trying to perpetuate the crime of repressive and suboptimal governance at your expense. They are putting personal and political power first and for them, there is no second place. The Citizenship is not a consideration. Your choice and your democracy is trying to be stolen from you. But together, we won’t let that happen.”
Angus Forbes’ letter in full:
Plymouth, your choice and your democracy is trying to be stolen from you. But together, we won’t let that happen. By voting for a Mayor on the 17th of July, you will be saying that you will not stand for being lied to, have a party cheat, or have your freedom to choose and your democracy stolen from you by career politicians.
So, what’s happening? The Minister for Local Government has just rushed through an amendment to legislation specifically designed to control whether you get a Mayor should you vote for one. After the shortest allowed period of 21 days, the amendment to the legislation comes into effect on the 16th of July, JUST ONE DAY before our referendum.
This amendment says that if the people of Plymouth choose to be governed by a Mayor, they will not have that election until May 2027, instead of May 2026 as current law dictates. This allows the government time to pass legislation stopping the creation of more local authority mayors should they want that outcome.
As a result of this intervention, parallels are quite rightly being made across the city to us living in North Korea or Russia, as if we are living under an authoritarian regime.
Why take this drastic action? Why not support your valid petition, your valid referendum, your freedom of choice, your freedom to dictate how you are governed, a right that exists under current law?
This is because they know if you vote for a Mayor on the 17th of July, it is likely that Labour would lose power in Plymouth come the Mayoral elections in May 2026. Some members of the Labour party have decided they don’t want to take that chance, and they’ve changed the law to try to stop you.
So even though direct democracy (Mayors) are central to the best city governance structures in the world because they empower citizens, even though change is desperately needed in Plymouth with 78,000 of our citizens trapped in poverty and our economy stagnant, even though 13,800 Janners signed the petition under current legislation to trigger the referendum and promote progress for all, and even though this week the Prime Minister himself has said ‘ Mayors work well, mayors offer political representation’, some key Labour figures have gone out of their way to take your rights away from you. I hope Plymouth never forgives them, I certainly won’t.
Throughout our apolitical campaign, our opposition have lied, cheated and now they’re trying to steal. They lied saying that the Mayor would cost £1.5m when the average mayor in England costs £258k. And we have proven it would save Plymouth money in our 82 page report. Plymouth Labour have cheated by using the electoral roll to write to postal voters, when all parties were given specific instructions by the Electoral Officer not to use the electoral roll, and in our case, not being a political party, we are not even allowed access to it. And now, by rushing through a negative amendment to current legislation, they are trying to steal your right to determine how you are governed.
But it goes back further than that. During the petition process, we encountered 15 threats against us by councillors. They shouted at us in the street while we were collecting signatures, they removed leases, they sent the police round at 2am, they threatened to remove planning approvals. All employees of PCC were instructed not to sign the petition, an unlawful act to stop them exercising their core democratic right. When we submitted our petition in February, officers sent 21 emails to Westminster asking if they could ignore the petition.
No wonder Plymouth is said to be ruled by intimidation and fear, it’s 100% true.
Indirect democracy in cities, which fosters division, rabid partisan local politics and often leaders who are the antithesis of leaders of place, has failed Plymouth for a generation. It has produced awful decision making, no airport, an ugly city centre, racked up almost £1bn in debt, kept 30% of our population poor….and it has allowed an unpopular and undemocratically elected leader to be in power for 16 years. This is not democracy, this is dictatorship in sheep’s clothing. With a Mayor serving four year terms, you could have kicked out any leader you didn’t want decades ago.
Our opposition is trying to perpetuate the crime of repressive and suboptimal governance at your expense. They are putting personal and political power first and for them, there is no second place. The people are not a consideration.
The benefits of direct democracy, the mayoral system, are best summed up by the acronym DATE. More Democracy, more Accountability, more Talent and more Economic growth and revenues for services. In a bad situation, like Plymouth is in, the default action should be to revert to basics: direct democracy, power to the people. When you choose your leader directly, you start to forge collective belief. This is the greatest asset for a city. Yes, there are slightly different models of mayoral governance but central to every single one is the positive power of direct democracy. The people choose their leader directly.
When Plymouth last had a referendum on this issue, in January 2002, there was one mayor in England. Now there are 27. Next year there will be 33. The trend is clear, England is playing catch up to the world’s best practice of having mayors.
By voting for a mayor on the 17th, we create that role on that day. HM Government then has to take it away from us, and that is not so easy, especially for a government that is often U-turning, dividing into factions and has more important pieces of legislation to try and pass.
Fellow citizens, this is no longer just a referendum for a Mayor, this now becomes a referendum where we have to defend Plymouth’s fundamental democratic rights by voting for a Mayor. Democracy that women died for in the suffrage movement, democracy that is under threat worldwide at this time. It is time to tell Plymouth City Council, Westminster and the wider world exactly how we want to be governed and that the ever-failing indirect democracy model in our city is not our future.
We must stand up for democracy, stand up for our rights, and stand up for Plymouth on the 17th of July by voting for a Mayor. Future generations and our country are watching us now.
Thank you.
Sign up for free below to get notified with all the latest breaking news from Plymouth Plus.
