Elected mayors ‘will fire up engines of Scotland’s economy’

Edinburgh and Glasgow should introduce elected regional mayors to “realise their and Scotland’s full potential”, two former city leaders have said.
Donald Anderson and Steven Purcell have jointly called for the country’s two largest cities to become Scotland’s answer to the Northern Powerhouse.
It comes after Andy Burnham, who has been Labour mayor of Greater Manchester since 2017, said cities like Edinburgh and Glasgow would have a “bigger voice” at Holyrood and Westminster with a recognisable figurehead.
He said Scottish cities were being “held back” by the lack of directly elected regional mayors like in Manchester and Liverpool.
Scotland’s eight regional councils were replaced nearly 30 years ago by 32 single-tier local authorities.
England’s ten metro mayors enjoy powers devolved from Westminster.
Some Scottish local authorities have formed loose city-regions focused on Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Dundee, and try to liaise with each other on strategic planning and economic growth.
Writing in The Scotsman, Anderson and Purcell said: “As former leaders of Scotland’s two principal cities and most important economies, we think the time has come for them to have directly elected mayors that work together formally to promote ‘Scotland’s Growth Corridor’ as a means of maximising jobs and wealth creation in Scotland.”
Anderson was leader of Edinburgh city council between 1999 and 2006 and Purcell led Glasgow from 2005 to 2010.
They said they had previously “worked together to share ideas and promote joint activity between these two great cities by creating a formal joint city partnership”, but the arrangements later fell away.
They added: “We think the time has come to revisit that partnership. Scotland’s two biggest cities are the engines of Scotland’s economy, and we strongly believe that a new approach is required to fire those engines to meet the undoubted challenges that lie ahead.”
The former leaders said the move was no “central belt power grab that would ignore issues beyond the city regions of Glasgow and Edinburgh”, adding: “The northern triangle of Aberdeen, Dundee and Inverness is an equivalent and important economic area which should have its own strategy and resources.
“What we are suggesting simply formalises the fact that the area around and between our two great cities is in reality ‘Scotland’s Growth Corridor’, and public policy needs to reflect that to maximise growth and jobs for Scotland.”
Chris Deerin, director of the think tank Reform Scotland, said: “Donald Anderson and Steven Purcell understand better than anyone both the potential of Scotland’s central belt corridor, and what holds it back. Scotland is incredibly centralised, with devolution having stopped at Holyrood.
“We need far more power devolved to local government alongside directly elected mayors, who can better respond to the differing local needs and priorities our communities face while also promoting social and economic opportunities.”
Steven Heddle, vice-president of Cosla, the council umbrella body in Scotland, has previously warned there is no real enthusiasm for directly elected regional mayors north of the border.