South Wales Evening Post - 5 March 2008
Swansea's Lord Mayor should be democratically elected by its residents, according to the city's Conservative group.
City-based Tories have put forward proposals which would see individuals from outside the council elected as the "people's mayor".
But the plan, which would replace the existing system in which the civic figurehead is appointed from existing councillors, has been described as an election stunt in the run-up to local authority elections in May.
The leader of Swansea's Conservative Councillors, Ren?? Kinzett, said: "For too long, this prestigious position has been jealously held onto by long-serving councillors.
"The only criteria for becoming Lord Mayor has either been that you have been around long enough or that you were a member of the right political party. These days people expect more transparency in their politics and they want to see people appointed to positions on merit, not just on longevity."
Since 1986, the Lord Mayor was traditionally the longest-serving councillor, until 1996 when the Labour-dominated council saw the appointment being awarded to a councillor from within their party.
The system of the longest- serving councillor getting the appointment was reintroduced in 2004 when Labour lost control of the city.
The Conservatives have now proposed setting up a commission of political representatives, business leaders, voluntary sector bosses and other figures from Swansea to examine options for appointing people to the position of Lord Mayor from outside the council.
They have promised to include the pledge in their party manifesto for the local elections in May.
"Under our plan, the next Lord Mayor of Swansea could be a world-renowned academic from one of our city's two fantastic universities, a head teacher who has turned around a failing school, a businesswoman who has brought inward investment into our city or someone who has excelled in the fields of sports or the arts," said Councillor Kinzett.
The proposals were raised by Conservative councillor Paxton Hood-Williams at a full meeting of the council last week, during which Councillor Gareth Sullivan was nominated for Lord Mayor for 2008/09.
Alan Lloyd was nominated as his deputy.
But David Phillips, leader of the city's Labour group told the meeting: "This has been a long, long time in gestation.
"Their group leader agreed to this and put forward the proposal as an election stunt."
