Leicester City Mayor role set to be abolished

Leicester City Mayor Sir Peter Soulsby has begun the process of abolishing his own current position.

The role of elected Mayor was due to be scrapped in 2028 as part of the ongoing nationwide review into council boundaries.

But the Government recently paused its local government reorganisation (LGR) process in certain areas - including Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland.

It remains unclear how long LGR will be paused for.

But Sir Peter (pictured) told the BBC that he felt it was pointless for voters to be asked to elect a mayor who was only likely to serve "one or two years at most" before the city council is itself dissolved as part of the wider LGR process.

For this reason, Sir Peter told political reporter Dan Martin, he has asked senior council officers to start the process of returning the authority to a leader and cabinet model.

The role of City Mayor - which is being phased out by Government - is entirely different to that of Regional Mayor.

While City Mayors are responsible for leading public services in a single authority area, Regional Mayors take a strategic leadership approach across several authorities within a wider region.

Government remains keen to work with Regional Mayors and is encouraging the creation of regional authorities by the end of 2027.

Stakeholders - including MPs - have sought assurances that the pausing of LGR will not slow down Devolution.

Next steps for City Council

City councillors are to be asked to vote on the change of governance at a full council meeting in November.

If they approve his plan, the 2027 Leicester mayoral election will be cancelled.

"The government has made it very clear that mayors for single authorities, like Leicester, are something they want to move away from," Sir Peter told the BBC.

"Other cities, like Liverpool and Bristol, have moved away from it and returned to the conventional form of councillors electing a leader.

"Even though LGR has been delayed, we have to get on with making that change.

"From a personal point of view, I've had many years as a councillor before I was mayor and I hope I might be able to return to that.

"But that is very much a matter for my own party and, ultimately, for the electorate."

As a councillor in a majority party, Sir Peter would be in a position to put himself forward as a future council leader.

"We'd have to wait and see.," he added. "Other people will, no doubt, want to do that role. It might be me, it might not."