davieG Posted 20 December 2013 Posted 20 December 2013 Petition launched in bid to scrap role of Leicester's elected mayor By Leicester Mercury | Posted: December 20, 2013 By Dan Martin A new petition has been launched in a bid to scrap the role of Leicester's elected mayor. The Leicestershire Against the Cuts movement hopes to collect 12,000 signatures – five per cent of the city's electorate – on the petition. That amount would trigger a referendum allowing voters to decide on whether to continue with the current set-up at Leicester City Council. Sir Peter won the race to become the city's first directly elected mayor in May, 2011. However, voters in Leicester were never offered the option of a referendum on whether they wanted an elected mayor, like other towns and cities were. The city council's Labour group voted to adopt the new system after a short pre-Christmas consultation and Sir Peter won the subsequent election as Labour's candidate – polling nearly 47,000 votes, 55 per cent of the total and six times that of his nearest rival. Leicestershire Against the Cuts spokesman Steve Score, who is heading the campaign, said Sir Peter's mayoral position was too powerful, allowing him to preside over huge cuts to services unchallenged. Mr Score, a Socialist Party member, said: "The idea came from a broad meeting of Leicestershire Against the Cuts where there was a belief that the mayor has too much power. "Mayors are elected but in the four intervening years become elected dictators. "There are big cuts in the city to old people's homes, adventure playground schemes and hostels for the homeless, yet Sir Peter proceeds with his vanity projects. "We don't want to give the impression that removing the mayor would solve all the problems facing the city, but we do feel it would provide a situation where local elected councillors have more power and that would create a more responsive council, one that genuinely listens. "We want to get people the referendum the Labour party denied them." A previous attempt to collect a petition to trigger a referendum was launched by a businessman opposed to Sir Peter's plans to create the £4 million Jubilee Square. However, the campaign fizzled out after gaining little support. Sir Peter said: "I have always said the move towards having an elected mayor was done far too late and up against a deadline. "But when I meet members of the public I do not hear voices calling for a return to the old system when the council is run by a leader appointed by councillors in private after an election. "Having failed to win any seats in the elections, the socialists seem to think the quickest way to start the revolution is to get rid of the mayor's position." The petitioners will be collecting names by Leicester's Clock Tower at 12.30pm tomorrow. An electronic version of the petition is available at: Read more: http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/Petition-launched-bid-scrap-role-Leicester-s/story-20347191-detail/story.html#ixzz2o0Jl3S1s
Guest MattP Posted 20 December 2013 Posted 20 December 2013 Leicestershire Against the Cuts There is an Alternative We say NO to cuts and closures. Ordinary people should not have to pay for an economic crisis, which was caused by the boom / bust failures of capitalism. Why should the most vulnerable in society have to suffer, when bankers are raking in huge bonuses? We demand: • No more cuts or job losses. We need to defend our public services. • For services to be run democratically; for local people to have a real say in what they want. • Direct, public funding of schools, health centres and hospital building programmes. No to fat-cats profiting from our public services. • Hospitals, schools, libraries should be run to provide a service, not to make a profit for privateers. We CAN afford to invest in our public services: • Instead of axing hundreds of thousands of civil servant jobs, use them to collect the tax owed by the non-doms and the rich • Cost of wars in Afghanistan and Iraq Smart guys these lot. Where can get that refund for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars?
Out Foxed Posted 20 December 2013 Posted 20 December 2013 Smart guys these lot. Where can get that refund for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars? sell heroin
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