England and Wales mayoral referendums

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As of October 2021, there have been 54 referendums on the question of changing executive arrangements to a model with a directly elected mayor. Of these, 17 have resulted in the establishment of a new mayoralty and 37 have been rejected by voters. Referendums are triggered by council resolution, local petition or central government intervention.

Change to elected mayor?

"Yes" majority shown in green, "No" majority shown in red.

Local authority	Date	Yes votes	Yes vote %	No votes	No vote %	Turnout %
Berwick-upon-Tweed	7 June 2001	3,617	26	10,212	74	64
Cheltenham	28 June 2001	8,083	33	16,602	67	32
Gloucester	28 June 2001	7,731	32	16,317	68	31
Watford	12 July 2001	7,636	52	7,140	48	25
Doncaster	20 September 2001	35,453	65	19,398	35	25
Kirklees	4 October 2001	10,169	27	27,977	73	13
Sunderland	11 October 2001	9,375	43	12,209	57	10
Brighton & Hove	18 October 2001	22,724	38	37,214	62	32
Hartlepool	18 October 2001	10,667	51	10,294	49	34
Lewisham	18 October 2001	16,822	51	15,914	49	18
Middlesbrough	18 October 2001	29,067	84	5,422	16	34
North Tyneside	18 October 2001	30,262	58	22,296	42	36
Sedgefield	18 October 2001	10,628	47	11,869	53	33
Redditch	8 November 2001	7,250	44	9,198	56	28
Durham	20 November 2001	8,327	41	11,974	59	29
Harrow	6 December 2001	17,502	43	23,554	57	26
Plymouth	24 January 2002	29,559	41	42,811	59	40
Harlow	24 January 2002	5,296	25	15,490	75	25
Newham	31 January 2002	27,263	68	12,687	32	26
Southwark	31 January 2002	6,054	31	13,217	69	11
West Devon	31 January 2002	3,555	23	12,190	77	42
Shepway	31 January 2002	11,357	44	14,438	56	36
Bedford	21 February 2002	11,316	67	5,537	33	16
Hackney	2 May 2002	24,697	59	10,547	41	32
Mansfield	2 May 2002	8,973	55	7,350	45	21
Newcastle-under-Lyme	2 May 2002	12,912	44	16,468	56	31.5
Oxford	2 May 2002	14,692	44	18,686	56	34
Stoke-on-Trent	2 May 2002	28,601	58	20,578	42	27
Corby	1 October 2002	5,351	46	6,239	54	31
Ealing	12 December 2002	9,454	45	11,655	55	10
Ceredigion	20 May 2004	5,308	27	14,013	73	36
Isle of Wight	5 May 2005	28,786	43.7	37,097	56.3	60.4
Fenland	14 July 2005	5,509	24.2	17,296	75.8	33.6
Torbay	14 July 2005	18,074	55.2	14,682	44.8	32.1
Crewe and Nantwich	4 May 2006	11,808	38.2	18,768	60.8	35.3
Darlington	27 September 2007	7,981	41.6	11,226	58.4	24.6
Bury	3 July 2008	10,338	40.1	15,425	59.9	18.3
Tower Hamlets	6 May 2010	60,758	60.3	39,857	39.7	62.1
Great Yarmouth	5 May 2011	10,051	39.2	15,595	60.8	36
Salford	26 January 2012	17,344	56.0	13,653	44.0	18.1
Birmingham	3 May 2012	88,085	42.2	120,611	57.8	28.35
Bradford	3 May 2012	53,949	44.9	66,283	55.1	35
Bristol	3 May 2012	41,032	53	35,880	47	24
Coventry	3 May 2012	22,619	36.4	39,483	63.6	26.6
Leeds	3 May 2012	62,440	36.7	107,910	63.3	31
Manchester	3 May 2012	42,677	46.8	48,593	53.2	25.3
Newcastle upon Tyne	3 May 2012	24,630	38.1	40,089	61.9
Nottingham	3 May 2012	20,943	42.5	28,320	57.5	23.9
Sheffield	3 May 2012	44,571	35.0	82,890	65.0
Wakefield	3 May 2012	27,610	37.8	45,357	62.2
Copeland	22 May 2014	12,671	69.8	5,489	30.2	33.9
Bath and North East Somerset	10 March 2016	8,054	20.8	30,557	79.1	28.9
Guildford	13 October 2016	4,948	19.3	20,369	80.6	24.9
Croydon	7 October 2021	47,165	80.0	11,519	19.5	21

Referendums on removal of mayor

There have been nine referendums on the question of removing the post of elected mayor. Four mayoral posts have been disestablished following a vote and five retained.

"Retain" majority shown in green, "Remove" majority shown in red.

Local authority	Date	Retain votes	Retain vote %	Remove votes	Remove vote %	Turnout %
Stoke-on-Trent	23 October 2008	14,592	41	21,231	59	19.2
Doncaster	3 May 2012	42,196	61.7	25,879	37.8	30.7
Hartlepool	15 Nov 2012	5,177	41.3	7,366	58.7	18
Middlesbrough	26 September 2013	8,674	57.3	6,455	42.7	15
North Tyneside	5 May 2016	32,546	57.8	23,730	42.2	36.4
Torbay	5 May 2016	9,511	37.5	15,846	62.5	25.3
Newham	6 May 2021	45,960	55.8	36,424	44.2	37.68
Tower Hamlets	6 May 2021	63,029	77.8	17,951	22.2	41.79
Bristol	5 May 2022	38,439	41	56,113	59	28.6

London	London
Combined authorities	Cambridgeshire and Peterborough East Midlands Greater Manchester Liverpool City Region North East South Yorkshire Tees Valley West of England West Midlands West Yorkshire
Local authorities	Bedford Croydon Doncaster Hackney Leicester Lewisham Mansfield Middlesbrough Newham North Tyneside Salford Tower Hamlets Watford

Former

Devolution in the United Kingdom

Devolved areas

National level	Northern Ireland Scotland Scottish devolution Wales Welsh devolution
Regional level (in England)	Combined authorities Directly elected mayoralties Greater London Authority

Referendums

English mayoral referendums
- London
- 1998
- 2012
North East England
- 2004
Northern Ireland
- 1998
Scotland
- 1979
- 1997
Wales
- 1979
- 1997
- 2011

Heads of devolved
governments

Devolved legislatures

Devolved administrations

Organisations and laws
of the legislatures and
governments of the UK
and the devolved areas

Commissions (UK Parliament)	Kilbrandon Commission Holtham Commission Silk Commission McKay Commission
Commissions (devolved legislatures)	Senedd Richard Commission Holtham Commission Thomas Commission Scottish Parliament Calman Commission Smith Commission
Referendum and devolution acts	Greater London Authority (Referendum) Act 1998 Greater London Authority Acts 1999 2007 Northern Ireland Acts 1998 2006 Referendums (Scotland & Wales) Act 1997 Wales Acts 1998 2006 2014 2017 Scotland Acts 1998 2012 2016
Select committees	Northern Ireland Affairs Scottish Affairs Welsh Affairs
Grand committees	Legislative Grand Committees (2015–2021) Northern Ireland Scottish Welsh
Departments and Territorial Offices (MOJ)	Cabinet Office - Devolution Secretariat Ministry of Justice – Devolution Directorate-General Office of the Advocate General for Scotland Northern Ireland Office Scotland Office Wales Office

Elections

Current	Agreements/Treaties Anglo-Irish Treaty Good Friday Agreement Budget Barnett formula Block grant Constitution of the United Kingdom Reserved and excepted matters West Lothian question
Proposals	Cornwall Cornish Assembly Cornish Constitutional Convention Mebyon Kernow Revived Cornish Stannary Parliament Devolved English parliament Separatism in the United Kingdom Federalism in the United Kingdom Campaign for an English Parliament Northern England Campaign for the North Yorkshire Party Other parts of Southern England Wessex Regionalist Party Scotland Full fiscal autonomy
Historical	Administrations of England English Regional Assemblies, 1998–2010 Administrations of London London County Council Greater London Council Administrations of Northern Ireland 1922–72 1974 Legislatures of Northern Ireland 1922–72 1973–74 1982–86 Northern Ireland-related legislation of the UK Parliament Ireland, 1886 Ireland, 1893 Ireland, 1914 Ireland, 1920 Irish Free State, 1922 Northern Ireland, 1974 Irish Home Rule movement Prime Minister of Northern Ireland Scotland Act 1978 Scottish Office Sunningdale Agreement Wales Act 1978 Welsh Office

1. Rejected referendums are italicised. The others were fully or partially approved.
2. There is no law-making body for any regionally devolved area.
3. Administrations of regionally devolved areas are omitted.

Category

References

"The BANES mayoral referendum declaration".
"Governance referendum 7 October 2021 | Croydon Council". www.croydon.gov.uk. Retrieved 8 October 2021.

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