Linked are the results, ward by ward, of the Mayoral Referendum. As you will see 38 of the 40 wards in Birmingham had a ‘No majority’ giving an overall total of 57.8% voting No and 42.2% voting Yes. In addition there were nearly 5,000 ballot papers which ruled as being ‘spoilt’. A sizeable proportion of these had the words ‘No’ written on them and these ballot papers were disallowed whereas those ballot papers which had ‘Yes’ on them against one of the two choices were allowed. This is an issue which we will pursue with the Electoral Commission but it made no difference to the overwhelming, and stunning, rejection of the elected Mayor proposal.

The No campaign drew support from individuals in all political parties and as Joint Chairmen we would like to place on record out thanks to those people who helped with distributing our two leaflets; getting the message across to friends, family and work colleagues; and speaking up at community meetings where the issue was discussed.

The No Campaign based its argument around ten clear reasons why we believed that the ‘elected Mayor proposal’ was both dangerous to our democratic process and unnecessary. We deliberately did not personalise our campaign and made no reference at all to any of the individuals who had expressed an interest in running for the position should there have been a Yes vote. We concentrated our arguments solely on the facts and, judging from the feedback which reflected the overall result we won the argument hands down.

All of us have our different views about how the governance of Birmingham can be improved. It is right, and healthy for democracy, that we should always be looking for improvements in the way Birmingham is governed but now that the people have made their choice it is our intention to put the ‘No Campaign’ into ‘hibernation’. We are not going away and we will be constantly on our guard if there are further attempts to try and impose the idea of an ‘elected Mayor’ on Birmingham and the other great cities of England which also voted, decisively, No on the 3rd May.

Once again we express our sincere thanks to everybody helped in the campaign. Victory on the 3rd May is a tribute to all the work that was put in by everyone involved who can rightly feel proud of the stunning victory that was achieved.

Thank you Birmingham

The campaign would like to thank the citizens of Birmingham for voting for accountable democratic local government. The figures are available on the internet. Of those whose votes were counted 57.8% voted for the more democratic system.

There are many issues that arise, but an important one is about the over 5,000 people whose votes were not counted.
a) If a vote is counted with the word "yes" on it then it should also be counted with the word "no".
b) The leaflet that goes to all households should have a page or two from each side of the argument.
Both are issues for the electoral commission.
Result by Ward

Vote No to a Power Freak

The campaign against the proposal to concentrate the political power of Birmingham City Council into one individual elected for 4 years.

On 3rd May 2012 there will be a referendum in Birmingham. This will decide whether Birmingham's City Leader should be directly elected and in power for 4 years or whether the City Leader can be removed by the City Council.

This website has been produced by those who believe that the concentration of power into one person for four years means that ordinary Brummies will be ignored apart from the few months before an election every four years.

The current system means that citizens discuss issues with their councillors who can speak on their behalf in the Council Chamber. The City Leader has to have support from more than half of the councillors otherwise, he or she loses his or her job. The proposed system means that a City Leader remains in office for 4 years whatever people think.

Speakers for public meetings If you are arranging a public meeting and would like someone to speak then please contact John Hemming. We are happy to arrange for speakers, but would ask that a meeting has no more than 6 people on the panel and an equal number of speakers for and against the issue.

Actually two speakers each way is probably better than three. However, we can arrange for people to come and talk to you locally if given enough notice.