On Referendum day, 17th July, Plymothians will be able to change the structure by which their leader of Plymouth City Council is selected.
Currently, the leader must be a councillor, chosen by other councillors. This is indirect democracy and it has failed Plymouth. Of the six targets councillors set in 2003 to be achieved by 2026, not one has even got close.
The alternative is that the people choose their leader directly, from a wider range of candidates from across the city. This direct democracy is the number one used method of city governance in the world.
The reasons it works is a combination of a greater talent pool of leaders, more accountability, more place based leadership and less politics, and economic growth that nearly always comes from democratic legitimacy of office and collective vision. These attributes are keenly needed in Plymouth, and the Local Government Act 2000 has allowed over 10,000 Plymothians to trigger the referendum.
I keep getting asked, why are you sponsoring this, what’s in it for you? I’ve had lots of face to face meetings with Plymothians who say: “I just wanted to look you in the eye and see if you are genuine about not wanting to run for mayor and hear why you are doing this.” Unfortunately, I cannot do that with each of you so that is why I am writing this open letter.
I was introduced to your wonderful city in 2019 when I was asked by the University to give a talk on a small book I had written. When I arrived, I was like, what is this place?! I was immediately drawn by both Plymouth’s wider beauty and its remoteness. Hailing originally from Adelaide in South Australia, and having lived in Sydney, Hamburg, Port Moresby and knowing other remote coastal cities, I felt a natural sense of belonging.
So taken with the potential of Plymouth, my wife and I invested in some property, which had been for sale for over a year, and Darcey accepted the pro bono job as chair of TRP. I set about meeting Janners, asking the same question of about 80 non-political leaders: ‘tell me about your city’. Their answers were very uniform: our potential is high but we haven’t realised it.
I then asked why. The answer: everything is too political and there is a lack of leadership. In fact, two influential figures used exactly the same phrase: we live in a leadership vacuum. When I heard this, I realised that the problem must be a structural one. It is not as if there have not been well meaning councillors who have tried to serve Plymouth to the best of their abilities, but clearly the structure of leadership is not resonating with the people of Plymouth and they’re not realising the city’s potential.
In my time, I have been extraordinarily fortunate to have worked or lived under some inspiring leaders. In Sydney there is an incredible mayor, Clover Moore, who is an independent centralist. She and her cabinet are excellent. In the city in London, that is the finance sector, I worked under leaders who ensured London became a leader in 21st century global finance. I have seen the effects of Mayor Juppe in Bordeaux, Mayor Bloomberg in New York and heard about the transformation of Bilbao under their mayor.
Helsinki, Oslo, Copenhagen, Barcelona, Seattle, Vancouver, New York, Boston, Los Angeles, Melbourne, Brisbane, Stockholm, Bilbao, Madrid…the list goes on and on… ALL choose their leader directly. Finally, it is being used in England. When Plymouth last held a referendum on this issue in 2001, there was one Mayor. Now there are 27 Mayors, and 30m people in England choose a leader of place directly either metro or unitary.
Plymothians should choose their leader directly. Direct democracy is natural for conurbations, forging the invaluable relationship between citizenship and leader. Democratic legitimacy spurs economic growth because private capital and private citizens are attracted to the office of leader who holds the burdens and accountability of the city. A true leader of place rather than a political leader. This is particularly important right now for Plymouth. Our city is in trouble, but we have an extraordinary opportunity to advance through population growth, attracting remote and hybrid workers to move to Plymouth for lifestyle, bringing their employment with them. Our best possible place based ambassador to put Plymouth on the map? A directly elected leader.
So how can I, a new citizen of Plymouth, even contemplate that I should stand as a candidate for Mayor when I hold leadership of place so highly? To do so would go against everything that I believe in with respect to this process. But having become an honorary Janner, having heard of the fear and intimidation by which the city is run, having seen the poverty and its disastrous effects on children and women and girls, and being able to act, I felt morally compelled to do so.
We calculate that eight leaders will come forward as candidates. Men and women whose grandparents built the city after the Blitz, those who remember a thriving Plymouth, those who have forged careers in the Armed Forces, health, manufacturing or academia.
I am sorry to disappoint the cynics but I don’t have a plan to take over Plymouth, then Devon, then the world… I am not a property developer just wanting to make more money. I don’t have some hidden agenda, I am not anti the Labour party, and I don’t mind the Welsh.
To focus on me is a dead end. Who you should focus on are the 14,000 brave Plymothians who signed the petition in order to trigger this referendum so that YOU could have the chance to transform your future through direct democracy. These Plymothians know that there is a problem with their city, and they are right. That problem is the leadership structure which is holding Plymouth back.
The day that power returns to the people…actual power to choose and to sack their leader directly, is the day that Plymouth starts to transform. I sincerely hope that is on July 17th, Referendum Day.
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