Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will hold discussions with London boroughs on abolishing council directly elected mayors.

The government is proposing to accept the continuation of directly elected council mayors where they are currently in place, while introducing new measures to ensure a more consistent approach to local authority governance arrangements in England. The government remains open to discussion with any council currently operating a directly elected local mayoral model, where they wish to adopt the leader and cabinet model. Any such change would be undertaken using pre-existing routes. Further detail on the government’s approach to simplifying local leadership structures can be found in the Written Ministerial Statement made on 24 June 2025 (HCWS736).