A BORIS Johnson-style elected mayor would not be right for Worcestershire, local politicians from across the political spectrum have said.

In a rare display of uniform agreement, MPs and rival candidates in south Worcestershire have all stated their opposition to the introduction of an all-powerful elected mayor at County Hall.

The way county councils operate is to change next year, with authorities being forced to choose between a modified version of existing arrangements – where councillors themselves choose a powerful leader – and a ruling mayor elected directly by the public.

A consultation is under way in Worcestershire to assess which option people favour.

“My instinct is that directly-elected mayors are more suited to areas where people more directly identify with the figurehead,” said Worcester’s Labour MP Mike Foster.

“Worcester itself might be more appropriate.

“But in Worcestershire I’m not convinced – people up in Bromsgrove think they’re almost part of Birmingham, whereas people in Broadway think they’re in the Cotwolds. It’s too widely spread.

“The structural change we need here is to create a single unitary authority.”

The city’s Conservative party candidate Robin Walker agreed that “Worcester is a significant enough place to justify having a mayor”, but said he believed “creating one single county-wide authority, either as a council or an elected mayor, would drown out the voice of Worcester”.

Mid-Worcestershire Tory MP Peter Luff made his views clear in his Worcester News column last week, describing both options on the table as “awful” and advocating a return to councils run by committee.

“There is a case for elected mayors in large cities, where there are genuinely shared issues that are common across the city,” he wrote. “But Worcestershire’s rural and urban mix makes it an infinitely more varied place, and needs to be run locally too.”

Local Liberal Democrats agreed that a directly-elected mayor would not be right for the county.

The party’s candidate for West Worcestershire, Richard Burt, said: “The idea of an elected mayor for Worcestershire is a non-starter.

“It’s a very large and diverse county and I can’t see how one person could possibly represent the best interests of the whole community.”

The public consultation on how County Hall should be run, ends on Wednesday, December 3.

To cast your vote visit wor cestershire.gov.uk/research web/lead/leadership. Alternatively write to Simon Mallinson, head of legal and democratic services, Worcestershire County Council, County Hall, Spetchley Road, Worcester, WR5 2NP.