The first ever mayor of Greater Manchester will be elected on Thursday, May 4 – but for many of us, the powers and purpose of the role may still seem a little unclear.



In fact successive surveys have suggested a substantial proportion of voters here don't even know the vote is happening.

For some there is understandably confusion that the city of Manchester rejected a mayor in a referendum in 2011, but that the region as a whole is now getting one anyway.

At the same time councillors, think-tanks and even mayoral candidates themselves don’t always help by giving differing accounts of the mayor’s powers.

Add in the fact that there's now also a general election just a month later, which wasn't on the cards when the mayoral poll was originally planned, and it can seem all the more baffling.

So on the eve of the vote we have created this handy guide to the mayoralty, how the role came into being and what exactly they will and won't be able to do.

When is the Greater Manchester mayoral election and how do I vote?

Why are we getting a mayor?

George Osborne refused to devolve any substantial levels of power to the region in 2014 unless we had an elected mayor to go with it.

His reasons – publicly at least – were two-fold.

Firstly, with power must come accountability.

Secondly, he believes the region will benefit from having a London or New York-style figurehead to go out and raise our profile, to speak on our behalf.

To some extent you can already see that happening: mayoral elections in Manchester, Birmingham and Liverpool are allowing the cities to shout louder at government about their place in Brexit negotiations, for example.

There is a third probable reason as well: Osborne may well have seen this as an opportunity for the Tories to get a better toehold in Greater Manchester.

Why are we getting a mayor when Manchester said no?

The Manchester mayoral referendum in 2011 was different.

That would have created a role not vastly different to that of council leader, as with the position currently held by Paul Dennett in Salford.

It would have been slightly more powerful than council leader, but not a lot.

This new position is completely different.

For a start, its scope covers the whole of Greater Manchester. He or she will have new powers over policing, fire, housebuilding and transport, as well as influence over other areas – such as health and social care – and a considerable voice on the national stage.

This is the first time a role like this has ever been created. It is broadly comparable with the London mayor, who takes decisions on big issues that affect the whole of the capital, while individual councils carry on with day-to-day decisions.

Hasn’t Salford already got a mayor?

Yes, but see the point above.

The mayor in Salford oversees Salford issues, just as the mayor in Manchester – had it chosen to have one – would have overseen Manchester issues.

What will the mayor be directly in charge of?

The mayor will directly control a relatively small number of public services, although you wouldn’t necessarily know that from the campaign trail.

His or her key powers will be over police, fire, housebuilding and transport.

What are the mayor’s powers over police and fire?

The job currently done by the police commissioner will move to the mayor: so he or she will set the budget, including how much is spent on what.

Current police commissioner Tony Lloyd has hired more community support officers, for example, and overseen better links with mental health services.

The mayor will also set other broad priorities for policing and be accountable, alongside the chief constable, when things go wrong.

The same goes for the fire service, which is currently overseen by councillors on the fire authority.

What are the mayor’s powers over housebuilding?

(Image: PA)

There are several, some of which are better known than others.

A £300m recyclable loan fund for developers – specifically ringfenced for new housing on former industrial sites – will pass to the mayor.

So far that has been a controversial fund, with the first tranche already spent by council leaders and large chunks having been lent to development giants including Peel and Fred Done for apartments in and around the city centre. That may change under a mayor, although rules on how the fund is used are currently quite strict.

If the winner wants to spend any of the pot on social housing, for example, they will have to re-negotiate the rules with government.

The mayor will also have the power to compulsorily purchase bits of land – with the agreement of the council leader in that area – in order to make it easier for development to take place.

Then there is the thorny ‘spatial framework’ issue, more of which below. The mayor does have powers over that, but they are limited.

The mayor will also have a large amount of ‘soft power’ – ie influence – over the broad direction housing policy will go in over the coming years. Again, more of that below.

What are the mayor’s powers over transport?

Broadly speaking: buses and trams.

He or she will be in charge of the new bus system – with the necessary legislation having just squeaked through before parliament dissolved ahead of the general election.

That means the mayor will have control over bus routes, timetables and fares, and far more power to tell bus operators what to do.

Essentially it would allow Greater Manchester to create a much more understandable and straightforward bus network, like in London, and would probably be the most visible example of the mayor’s influence.

The mayor will also have powers over a separate fund agreed by government to pay for transport infrastructure over the next 30 years.

This has already paid for a tram extension to Trafford Park – so you can logically assume the mayor may use it to extend the Metrolink.

The mayor does not have control of the region’s day-to-day transport budget, however, which includes the running of the trams. That rests with the ten council leaders, although the mayor will have a vote too.

Will the mayor be in charge of health and social care?

No.

The mayor will be one of nearly 40 individuals to sit on the region’s devolved health board, which brings together all the different health and social care organisations across Greater Manchester’s £6bn system.

He or she will not control the health service, however, and will have the same voting power as all the other members of the board.

That’s not to say the mayor won’t have influence. They will be able to go public with any concerns or priorities, applying political pressure and influencing direction.

An obvious example would be the closure of a hospital or a walk-in. If health bosses want to do something like that and the mayor doesn’t agree – and says so publicly – that will make life difficult.

As a result, health and social care has come up repeatedly during the mayoral campaign.

But does the mayor have the direct power to change services, hire and fire, open and close hospitals, spend money, force health bosses to take certain decisions?

No.

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What about the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework?

Council leaders deliberately set up the system to ensure the mayor cannot ride roughshod over them where this is concerned.

The spatial framework – the long-term development plan for the region that has caused such uproar over the last few months – has to be unanimously agreed by all ten council leaders, as well as the mayor.

In addition, the masterplan will have to be signed off by members of each individual council.

That’s why we are already seeing backtracking on green belt development, particularly in Stockport, where councillors have made clear they won’t approve the masterplan as it currently stands.

This is where the real politics will come into play, since any one council – and as a result any one leader at Greater Manchester level – has the power to veto it, as well as the mayor.

How much money will the mayor be in charge of?

Directly, around £900m.

Most of that is the policing budget, but it also includes fire, buses and the housing and infrastructure funds mentioned above.

What does the mayor not have powers over?

There are a number of areas in which the mayor is, on paper, not very powerful at all.

The ten council leaders will continue to oversee the region’s day-to-day transport budget, the waste budget and some other aspects around economic development, such as giving loans to start-up businesses.

On those issues the mayor will be just one of 11 people voting, with a majority needed for a decision to be taken.

But the mayor will have considerable ‘soft’ power over any number of other things.

That’s partly why you may see candidates making pledges on things that aren’t mentioned in the region’s devolution agreement – such as homelessness or affordable housing.

The mayor will hope to use his or her position to knock heads together, apply public pressure and set priorities for the region. And while they may not be able to force things to happen, that will inevitably nudge policy in new directions.

They will also hope to push minsters for further powers. For example, at the moment Greater Manchester has pretty much no control over much of its schools system, but there are growing calls for the mayor's office to have oversight of standards in order to pull up schools – particularly academies and free schools that are pretty autonomous – where they are failing.

Can the mayor raise taxes?

(Image: PA)

Yes, to a point.

In future, the bit of your council tax bill that refers to the police and fire charges will be referred to as a ‘mayoral precept’ instead, since the mayor will oversee those budgets.

While those charges can go up and down, they are already routinely set at the maximum as services struggle for funding.

The mayor does also have the ability to add new charges to your council tax bill – to fund specific projects.

However this would be capped at a rise of 2pc, as with the police and fire charges, and any new charge would have to be ringfenced for a particular thing and be agreed by the 10 council leaders.

In addition, there is the potential for the mayor to raise business rates by up to 2pc to pay for specific projects aimed at boosting the economy. However that would need agreement from business leaders via the Local Enterprise Partnership.

The LEP is made up of a mixture of local leaders and business chiefs, including representatives from major firms such as BT and Siemens.

Some local politicians would also like to see the mayor have power over taxes such as stamp duty or council tax bands, but currently that is not the case.

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How much will the mayor be paid?

Council leaders have agreed that the mayor will receive a non-pensionable allowance of £110,000 a year.

This is less than the London mayor, who is on £145,000 a year, but considerably more than the £80,000 or so due to be paid to the mayors in Merseyside and the West Midlands.

However the independent panel that recommended Greater Manchester's figure argued that because uniquely our mayor will also take over fire and policing responsibilities, the higher figure makes sense.

Currently the police commissioner is paid £100,000 and the chair of the fire authority more than £30,000 – and both these roles will be scrapped and wrapped into the mayor's.

The mayoral allowance will be reviewed again ahead of the next mayoral election in 2020.



How much is the overall mayoral system going to cost?

There will be a £5.4m bill for this election and various one-off costs such as IT equipment and temporary staff.

That will be paid for out of reserves currently held by the combined authority.

The ongoing bill will be around £2m a year, paid for out of business rates – which the region has more control over under the new system. Essentially if the income from business rates increases, Greater Manchester now gets to cream that off.

That ongoing bill will cover a range of things, including the mayor’s salary.

It will also pay for office rent and upkeep, a policy adviser to the mayor and administrative support.

What about deputies?

As well as a political adviser, the mayor will be allowed two deputies.

One will be an existing council leader who won't get paid extra for the position. He or she will be a general deputy and won't have any one particular brief.

The second will be appointed by the mayor as a deputy for policing and crime. This person will receive an allowance, but the figure hasn't yet been agreed.

This position is broadly comparable with that of deputy police and crime commissioner currently carried out by Jim Battle, who gets paid £55,000 a year.

Why is there confusion about the mayor’s powers?

Firstly, because as you can see from above, they are complicated. Arguably, deliberately so.

Council leaders were not super-keen on being superseded by a mayor after spending years getting to this point without one.

So in layman’s terms, they made sure the role had its wings clipped.

As a result there are few areas in which the mayor will be able to take a decision without the majority of council leaders agreeing.

Some Labour council figures are also keen to downplay the powers of the mayor, irritated that Andy Burnham has, in their view, swooped in from Westminster to try to claim the top job.

But the ‘soft’ power of the mayor, his or her ability to set the agenda, make public statements, strike deals and lobby government, means the job is really whatever the winning candidate chooses to make it.

When, and where and how can I vote?

The Greater Manchester Mayoral Election takes place on Thursday, May 4. You can vote in three ways.

In person:

Polling stations in Greater Manchester will be open between 7am and 10pm. If you are registered and entitled to vote you will receive a polling card before the election telling you where to vote. You don’t need your poll card to vote.

When you arrive at your polling station, you will be asked for your name and address. Staff will check that you are registered and hand you a ballot paper. They can also help you understand how to fill out the ballot paper.

Find your polling station by contacting your local Electoral Services Office.

If you cannot go to the polling station to vote in person on Thursday 4 May 2017, you can apply to vote by post or by proxy.

By post:

If you are registered to vote by post, you will be sent a postal voting application pack containing your ballot paper, a postal voting statement (which requires your signature and date of birth) and a postage paid reply envelope.

Leave plenty of time to return your postal vote. If you don't manage to post it in time, you can return it by hand before 10pm on Thursday 4 May 2017 to your Electoral Services Office or any polling station in your local authority area.

By proxy:

Voting by proxy means that you appoint someone else to vote on your behalf. The deadline to appoint a proxy has now closed.

Your proxy will receive a poll card before the election telling them where to cast your vote.

The mayor will be elected by the Supplementary Voting system - what's that?

It means that voters have the opportunity to choose their first and second choice candidate. This is different to the First Past the Post system used in local and parliamentary elections.

If one candidate gets more than half of the first choice votes, then they will be elected as the Mayor of Greater Manchester.

If no candidate gets more than half of the first choice votes, then the two candidates with the most first choice votes go into a second round. All other candidates are eliminated.

Any second choice votes from the eliminated candidates which have been cast for the top two candidates remaining in the contest, will then be counted and added to their first choice totals.

The candidate who has the highest overall total will be declared the Mayor of Greater Manchester.

How do I complete my ballot paper?

Remember, you'll select TWO candidates.

You have the opportunity to cast your vote for your first and second choice candidate

Vote for your first choice candidate by putting a X in the box in column A next to their name

Vote for your second choice candidate by putting a X in the box in column B next to their name

For your second choice to be valid, it must be different to your first choice

If you only mark a second choice, your vote will not be counted.

When will the votes be counted and when will the result be known?

The votes will be verified in each of the 10 boroughs after the polls closed at 10pm on Thursday. Counting of the votes then takes place the day after the election on Friday, May 5.

The results in each borough will be announced individually, followed by the total votes cast for each candidate across the region, giving us a winner by early evening.

We'll bring you all the results live on the Manchester Evening News website, as they are announced.