Drawing lessons from US experience: an elected mayor for Britain's local government

Taking as a starting point the suggestion that US-style elected mayors might be appropriate for British local government this article explores the implications of such a development. It analyses the experience of the United States and notes crucial differences between the local government systems of Britain and the United States. These differences require a discussion of certain adaptations and changes that would need to be considered before an elected mayor in Britain could be established. The extent to which such an emulation would constitute an improvement to the current British local government system is considered. The article demonstrates the potential of prospective evaluation. It asks what we can learn from the experience of another country by projecting that experience onto the particular setting an circumstances of our own country. It provides otherwise unavailable evidence about the likely effects of a potentially important reform. The article concludes with an assessment of the general case for experimenting with an elected mayor in British local government and the prospects that such experiments will be taken forward