Singer Mark Morrison quits bid to be next Leicester city mayor

Singer Mark Morrison has said he no longer intends to run for election as Leicester's next mayor.

The R&B musician wanted to unseat mayor Sir Peter Soulsby next year by running on a ticket of tackling knife crime and gang violence.

But he said a lack of support from Leicester City Council and the community he grew up in had prompted him to drop his political ambitions.

Mr Soulsby said "it never felt he [Morrison] was serious about it".

Mr Morrison, 50, had opened up his Leicester city centre penthouse apartment as a recording studio, offering free recording sessions to about 100 promising young musicians.

He said he had hoped encouraging musical talent would potentially divert the city's youth from a life of crime and violence.

But he said he was closing the studio and returning to focus on his career in the US.

'Support the youth'

Mr Morrison, best known for his 1996 hit Return of the Mack, said: "I can no longer shrink myself to fit a place I've outgrown.

"My incentive that brought me home was the rising knife crime and gang violence in my home town, but it feels my home town doesn't want my help.

"So maybe it's best I stay away, but I will always support and pray for the youth of the city, and unlike Peter… with my wallet not my mouth".

Sir Peter Soulsby has been Leicester's mayor since 2011

The pair publicly fell out when Mr Soulsby said he would not use council cash to build Morrison a new recording studio, LeicestershireLive reported.

Mr Soulsby said: "I didn't actually know he still wanted to be mayor. I thought he'd given up on it some time ago.

"It never felt he was serious about it.

"He was serious about trying to get the council to pay to build him a new recording studio but I wasn't prepared to do that as he never demonstrated it would help tackle knife crime in any way."

Mr Morrison said he had been "deadly serious" about becoming mayor because he wanted to break a political status quo that was not improving the lives of young people in the city.

He also said he had not ruled out a future mayoral bid.

He said: "What I am trying to do is engage with the local electorate and it will take time and effort.

"I have an affinity with the Leicester community and want the best for them. In time they will see and recognise this.

"Inertia has set in in some parts of that city.

"There are local politicians that are happy with that state of affairs.

"I am not and will refuse to remain quiet about it."

Mr Soulsby has been re-selected as Labour's candidate in the next Leicester mayoral election, which will take place in May 2023.