You Decide: How Will We Run the City?

Bristol will go to the polls on Thursday 5 May to decide whether to keep our city mayoral system, or move to a committee-based system where key decisions are made by multiple groups of councillors, rather than a single elected leader.

This vote will decide who makes key decisions in the city, and how. It’s about who has power and influence, how decision makers collaborate, and what political system is best for tackling big issues in the city such as transport and social care. Who will represent Bristol at a national level? How will we make sure councillors have a meaningful voice in city hall when no party has an outright majority?

Eastside Community Trust, the Bristol Cable and Bristol Ideas are creating a space for people to come together, ask questions about how the referendum result will impact our lives in the city, and debate the wider issues at stake.

The panel – Cllr Carla Denyer, Cllr Marley Bennett, Stephen Williams and Emma Harvey – debate the issues. Chaired by Pat Hart, with an introduction to the two systems by the Bristol Civic Leadership Research Project.

Bristol Debates: Referendum 2022 is an impartial project. Bristol Ideas is commissioning and publishing articles and interviews, and providing information on the referendum and the different models being debated, as well as the challenges the city faces, the opportunities ahead, and how best to meet these. Find out more here.