Bristol Mayoral Referendum LIVE: Reaction as city opts to scrap mayoral system
Voting is underway across Bristol as people choose between a mayoral model and a committee system for their city - with the result expected in the early hours of tomorrow morning (May 6).
Residents in the city have the chance to keep or discard the current system of the directly-elected mayor and cabinet introduced 10 years ago, currently headed by mayor Marvin Rees, who will hold the position until 2024, regardless of the result.
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Hide AdThe alternative system is a committee model of government where decisions are made by groups of local councillors.
The city voted for the mayoral system in 2012 - the only city in the country to do so - with George Ferguson the first elected mayor. But at a council meeting in December, councillors voted for a new referendum on the system to be held.
Voting, which started at 7am and will end at 10pm, is taking place at polling stations across the city, which range from community halls to churches.
Follow live updates below on the voting, the count and, finally, the result in the early hours of tomorrow morning:
Bristol Mayoral Referendum LIVE:
Key Events
Timeline for today
The clock is ticking to vote with just over six hours to go until voting ends, at 10pm.
From 10pm, papers will be sent to the count at Oasis Academy in Brislington, and the result is expected at around 4am. For more information on timings, read our story here
What do ex-mayor George Ferguson and current mayor Marvin Rees say?
George Ferguson was elected as the first mayor for Bristol 10 years ago, before Marvin Rees took over in 2016 - despite both have been in the role, they have contrasting views on today’s referendum.
We broke their thoughts into three points each - read what they had to say here
#DogsAtPollingStations
Bristol Cathedral has sent out a message urging people in the city to vote - and has posted two tweets of dogs at polling stations.
Hello Patrick, and Berkeley!
When voting ends
When will votes be counted - and when will the result come in?
As soon as polling stations close at 10pm, the city council will begin the process of counting the votes, with around 250 recruited to carry out the task at the Oasis Academy in Brislington.
Bristol City Council could not give an exact time of when the votes would be counted, but issued a statement reading: “The counting of votes for the Bristol Mayor Referendum in 2022 will start in the evening of Thursday, 5 May.”
As for when the result would come in, the statement continued: “The time of the result is unknown because it depends on turnout.
“But we expect to be finished by approximately 4 am in the morning of Friday, 6 May.”
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