Candidates rule out county mayor tax

The Conservative and Labour candidates standing to become mayor of Cheshire and Warrington have said they will not introduce a mayoral tax.

Elected mayors across England have the ability to raise a mayoral precept - a sum on top of council tax to raise additional funds for services - although most of them currently do not.

Conservative Ben Fletcher said "taxing people more was not the answer" and in response, Labour's Dan Price said he also had "no plans to introduce tax".

The other major parties have not yet named their candidates.

The Cheshire and Warrington Combined Authority came into force earlier this year and the mayoral election will take place next year.

Businessman Fletcher said he would use his commercial experience to "lead an efficient and effective combined authority that creates plans that win private investment".

"Families across Cheshire and Warrington are having to live within their means. I think government should do the same," he said.

While Price - who is currently the county's Police and Crime Commisioner - said he had no precept plans, "the reality is that if you ask people here in Cheshire - and I have - they are often prepared to pay a few pounds extra each year for decent public services that work".

The Cheshire and Warrington mayoral election is set to take place in May 2027.

There are 14 regional mayors in England.

Ten of those do not set a mayoral precept, although some set the police and fire budgets and set precepts for these.

One of them, the West of England, does not have the power to set a precept.

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, Greater London, Greater Manchester and the Liverpool City Region do set precepts.

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