Leicester councillors to vote on scrapping elected mayor on 19 November

Leicester councillors will vote at the Town Hall on Thursday 19 November on whether to scrap the elected city mayor’s role and replace it with a council leader and cabinet.

If the change is approved, the mayoral post would end on 9 May 2027. The government says elections for city councillors will go ahead in May 2027, but there will be no mayoral election.

Instead of residents voting directly for a city mayor, councillors would choose the council leader, who would then appoint a cabinet. The city mayor currently sets council budgets and priorities for services including social care, housing and transport.

The role was due to be abolished in 2028 under the national reorganisation of councils, but ministers have withdrawn proposals for Leicestershire and are due to make a fresh announcement around Christmas.

Labour’s Sir Peter Soulsby has been Leicester’s only elected city mayor since the role was created in 2011. He has won four elections and expects Labour’s 32 councillors to support the change.

Soulsby has put his name forward for selection as a Labour council candidate. He said: “But whether I continue on at the city council is very much up to my own party branch to select me as a candidate, and then to the electorate to elect me.”

Labour councillors defeated earlier attempts to end the mayoral system in March 2023 and September 2025. Conservative opposition leader Councillor Hemant Rae Bhatia has argued that the role concentrates too much power in one person’s hands.

Council officers will review allowances for senior councillors after the decision. The city mayor’s post is separate from a proposed regional mayor for Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland, who would have powers over transport, housing and adult education.