Not another divisive referendum

7 Dec 2021 12:40 PM

TUC South West Regional Secretary, Nigel Costley, believes now is not the time for a divisive referendum on abolishing Bristol's mayor.

Many unions were sceptical of having a mayor in the first place but Nigel Costley believes that now is not the time to vote on changing the system again.

He says:

“Our councils should be focusing on social care, fighting to save essential services and jobs from further cuts, dealing with the housing crisis and helping us tackle the climate emergency.”

"Structures in and around Bristol are a mess and this will make things even worse. Each change has been largely driven by party-political interests and the current call for a referendum is no different.

"Unions have welcomed the mayor's 'one city' approach in which the big institutions of Bristol work together to respond to the pandemic."

"Stop messing around with governance arrangements and get on with the job."

The TUC is the federation of trade unions representing some 100,000 workers across the West of England.

Structures in and around Bristol are already a mess

Editors Note