Leicester councillor targets mayoral role in bid to scrap it

Councillor Rita Patel will be running as an independent mayoral candidate

A former Labour councillor has quit the party and announced her bid to be Leicester's next elected city mayor in order to scrap the role.

Councillor Rita Patel, who represents Rushey Mead, launched her campaign for Leicester's top job this week, saying the city needed "a fresh start".

She has promised one of her first jobs will be to remove the mayoral role.

Mayor Sir Peter Soulsby said it was "disappointing" to see Ms Patel walking away from the party.

Ms Patel was one of four city councillors suspended for six months for their attempt to scrap the mayor's office through a vote at a council meeting at the start of the month.

She was suspended alongside fellow councillors Ross Willmott, Patrick Kitterick and Jacky Nangreave meaning the four will not be able to stand in May's elections.

Sir Peter Soulsby has held the post of elected mayor since 2011

Ms Patel told the Local Democracy Reporting Service the city needed a transparent and accountable council that was more open to debate.

She said: "I resigned from the executive because I was unhappy and I wanted the freedom to be able to talk to people and start engaging them in discussion and debate - and I didn't feel I could do that on the executive.

"Slowly it just feels the party has become more and more undemocratic and, in the end, the last straw was the discussion on the mayoral system and what happened after.

"What that said to me was it's time for a change, we need to debate and look at where our priorities lie."

Ms Patel said she would pursue all avenues with the aim of scrapping the mayoral post and would find the quickest, most cost effective and fairest option - whether that was a vote in the council chamber or a public referendum.

Sir Peter said it was "disappointing" to see Ms Patel running as an independent mayoral candidate.

Responding to allegations that the council was stifling debate, he said: "It's funny she's never said that in all the years she's been a Labour councillor.

"She also had, I would guess, almost 100 meetings of the Labour group in the last 12 years and never once raised the proposal we should move away from the mayoral system. Instead, she's said on many occasions she wants to do the job herself."

The Labour Party said it took its responsibilities "very seriously" in all selections and "at every level of the party".