My Lords, my Amendment 66 would repeal Section 13 of the Elections Act 2022. Its aim is to reinstate the supplementary vote system for police and crime commissioners in England and Wales, the Mayor of London, combined authority mayors and local authority mayors in England. I said earlier today that there was an excess of centralisation in this Bill and other structures that have been created around combined authorities.
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We are creating a very centralist structure based on a hub-and-spoke model out of Whitehall, in which fiscal powers are not devolved and the Treasury has major control over what happens locally. Given, however, that greater centralisation is occurring, and given the powers of individuals holding those positions, they
should demonstrate that they have public support. It is not acceptable—whichever political party a mayor belongs to, for example—that they are elected with around one third of the vote in a first past the post system. I have never believed that, and I have spoken in your Lordships’ House before on this matter. You need to show that the individual charged with major responsibilities and powers actually commands public support. To do that means that they should command majority support. First past the post is simply not enough.
I do not intend to test the opinion of the House, but I would not wish this occasion to pass without repeating what I say quite frequently: you have to believe that democracy matters and that those charged with making major public investment decision command the support of their electorates.