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This book, now available in paperback, is the result of national research conducted amongst England’s directly elected mayors and the councillors that serve alongside them. It is the first such major publication to assess the impact on local politics of this new office and fills a gap in our understanding of how the Local Government Act 2000 has influenced local governance. The book also draws from a range of research that has focused on elected mayors - in England and overseas - to set out how the powers, roles and responsibilities of mayors and mayoral councils would need to change if English local politics is to fundamentally reconnect with citizens. It not only explores how English elected mayors are currently operating, but how the office could develop and, as such, is a major contribution to the debate about the governance of the English localities.

The first major publication to assess the impact on local politics of the new office of directly-elected mayor, now finally available in paperback.

This chapter investigates the notions of local political leadership and asks what is meant by this concept in England and how it applies to elected mayors, council leaders and councillors. The most powerful context in which English mayors find themselves is the domination of local politics by political parties. The separation of powers, the mayoral political focus and the mayoral dichotomy bring together a range of issues which help uncover the richness of the English experiment with elected mayors. The separation of powers within English mayoral councils has the elected mayor as the head of the executive and political head of the council. The party-detached mayor deliberately places some distance between himself or herself and the party group of councillors. The ward/division and the authority of English local government have elected representatives to ‘lead’ within their own areas.