The Mayor of Copeland was a directly elected mayoralty, first elected on 7 May 2015, taking on the executive function of Copeland Borough Council in Cumbria, England. The first and only mayor was Mike Starkie, elected as an independent candidate in 2015 and 2019 but later joining the Conservative Party. The post was scrapped in the reorganisation of local government in Cumbria in April 2023.
| Mayor of Copeland | |
|---|---|
Incumbent post abolished | |
| Style | No courtesy title or style |
| Appointer | Electorate of Copeland |
| Term length | Four years |
| Inaugural holder | Mike Starkie |
| Formation | May 2014 referendum |
| Deputy | vacant |
| Salary | £50,000 [1] |
| Website | http://www.copelandbc.gov.uk/section/mike-starkie-elected-mayor |
Referendum
editA petition to change the status of the borough from one with a leader and cabinet to one with an executive mayor was submitted in February 2014. On 22 May 2014, a referendum was held (concurrent with elections to the European Parliament), at which voters opted to change to a mayoral system.[2]
| Choice | Votes | % |
|---|---|---|
 Elected Mayor
|
12,671 | 69.8 |
| Cabinet System | 5,489 | 30.2 |
| Total votes | 18,160 | 100.00 |
2015 election
editThe election was initially planned for October 2014, but this was later delayed to May 2015 to save money.[3] The contest took place on the same day as the election of borough councillors and the UK general election.
| Copeland mayoral election 7 May 2015[4] | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | 1st round | 2nd round | 1st round votesTransfer votes, 2nd round | |||||
| Total | Of round | Transfers | Total | Of round | |||||
| Independent | Mike Starkie | 9,836 | 30.5% | 5,397 | 15,233 | 51.2% |
| ||
| Labour | Steve Gibbons | 12,867 | 39.9% | 1,662 | 14,529 | 48.8% |
| ||
| Conservative | Chris Whiteside | 9,509 | 29.5% |
| |||||
| Turnout | 32,212 | ||||||||
| Independent win | |||||||||
2019 election
edit| Copeland mayoral election 2 May 2019[5] | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | 1st round | 2nd round | 1st round votesTransfer votes, 2nd round | ||||
| Total | Of round | Transfers | Total | Of round | ||||
| Independent | Mike Starkie | 10,008 | 57% |
| ||||
| Labour | Linda Jones-Bulman | 4,544 | 26% |
| ||||
| Conservative | Gerard McGrath | 2,895 | 17% |
| ||||
| Turnout | 17,447 | |||||||
| Independent hold | ||||||||
References
edit- ^ "Copeland mayor to get £20k pay rise - NW Evening Mail". Nwemail.co.uk. Retrieved 5 March 2017.
- ^ "Mayoral referendum" (PDF). Copeland.gov.uk. Retrieved 19 June 2015.
- ^ "News & Star | News | Copeland mayor election put back to May next year". Newsandstar.co.uk. 21 June 2014. Archived from the original on 19 May 2015. Retrieved 19 June 2015.
- ^ "Copeland chooses Mike Starkie as first elected mayor". BBC News. 8 May 2015. Retrieved 9 November 2021.
- ^ "Copeland Mayoral - Thursday, 2nd May, 2019". Copeland.gov.uk. Retrieved 20 February 2020.