Mayor sets out plan to scrap his own role in 2027

Councillors will be asked to consider plans to abolish Leicester's elected mayor in May 2027.

The post was due to be scrapped in 2028 in a major shake-up of council boundaries.

However, this week, the government paused the process, known as local government reorganisation (LGR), and said councils should proceed with city council and mayoral elections in Leicester.

Current city mayor Sir Peter Soulsby told the BBC he felt it was pointless for voters to be asked to elect a mayor who was only likely to serve "one or two years at most" before the city council is dissolved.

He said he had asked senior council officers to start the process of returning the authority to the leader and cabinet model.

City councillors are to be asked to vote on the change of governance at a full council meeting in November.

If they approve his plan, the 2027 Leicester mayoral election will be cancelled.

Soulsby did confirm he has put his name forward to the Labour Party as a potential candidate in the city council election.

If he is first selected, then elected to a council seat, it would open the door to him seeking election as council leader - a role he previously held between 1981 and 1994, and from 1996 to 1999.

Asked if he would like to return for a third term as leader, he said: "We'd have to wait and see. Other people will, no doubt, want to do that role. It might be me, it might not."

He added: "The government has made it very clear that mayors for single authorities, like Leicester, are something they want to move away from.

"Other cities, like Liverpool and Bristol, have moved away from it and returned to the conventional form of councillors electing a leader.

"Even though LGR has been delayed we have to get on with making that change."

"From a personal point of view, I've had many years as a councillor before I was mayor and I hope I might be able to return to that, but that is very much a matter for my own party and, ultimately, for the electorate."

Soulsby, who was MP for Leicester South from 2005 to 2011, said he would "be at the mercy" of his party when it came to what area of the city he may seek election in.

In September 2025, Conservative and Green city councillors proposed a motion to the council to end the mayoral system, but it was voted down by a Labour majority of councillors in the chamber.

On Thursday, Leicester Conservatives leader Hemant Rae Bhatia said he was pleased there would be another vote.

"We and people of the city have argued for years that too much power has been concentrated in the office of the directly elected mayor and that local councillors and the communities they represent need a stronger voice," Bhatia added.

"If Sir Peter Soulsby has finally reached the same conclusion, then we welcome that change of heart.

"But residents will understandably question whether abolishing the mayoralty represents much of a fresh start if Peter Soulsby simply returns as a councillor and then seeks to run under a different title.

"I'm pretty sure that's not what the people of Leicester want. People want change."

Listen to BBC Radio Leicester on Sounds and follow BBC Leicester on Facebook, on X, or on Instagram. Send your story ideas to eastmidsnews@bbc.co.uk or via WhatsApp on 0808 100 2210.