| Mayor of Bedford | |
|---|---|
| Style | Mr. Mayor |
| Appointer | Electorate of Bedford |
| Term length | Four years |
| Inaugural holder | Frank Branston |
| Website | Mayor of Bedford |
The Mayor of Bedford is a directly elected mayor responsible for the executive function, and ceremonial duty of Bedford Borough Council in Bedfordshire. The incumbent is Tom Wootton of the Conservative Party, elected in May 2023.
The first known reference to a Mayor of Bedford in England was in 1264.
Prior to the Municipal Corporations Act, 1835, the Mayor of Bedford came into office on 29 September. The first Mayor of the reformed Corporation came into office on 1 January 1836, and subsequent Mayors on 9 November. After the Local Government Act, 1948, and the Local Government Act, 1972, the Mayors from 1949 onwards came into office in May. The civic mayor was replaced by a directly elected mayor in 2002.
Since April 2009 the Borough of Bedford is a unitary authority, with the executive having the powers and functions of both a non-metropolitan district and a non-metropolitan county.
Bedford held a referendum on 21 February 2002 on whether to introduce a directly elected mayor after a petition was signed by at least 5% of the electorate. The move was approved with 11,316 voting in favour and 5,357 against on a turnout of 15.5%. [1]
| Choice | Votes | % |
|---|---|---|
 Elected Mayor | 11,316 | 66.78 |
| Cabinet System | 5,537 | 33.22 |
| Valid votes | 16,843 | 99.60 |
| Invalid or blank votes | 34 | 0.40 |
| Total votes | 16887 | 100.00 |
| Registered voters/turnout | 108,817 | 15.54 |
| Source: Bedford Borough Council [2] | ||
The first mayoral election on 17 October 2002 saw independent Frank Branston elected as mayor. [3]
| Bedford Mayoral Election 17 October 2002 [4] [5] | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | 1st round | 2nd round | First round votes Transfer votes | |||||
| Total | Of round | Transfers | Total | Of round | |||||
| Better Bedford Party | Frank Branston | 9,557 | 34.5% | 2,521 | 12,078 | 63.4% | | ||
| Liberal Democrats | Christine McHugh | 4,711 | 17.0% | 2,253 | 6,964 | 36.6% | | ||
| Conservative | Charles Rose | 4,661 | 16.8% | | |||||
| Labour | Apu Bagchi | 4,114 | 14.8% | | |||||
| Independent | Ian Clifton | 1,893 | 6.8% | | |||||
| Independent | Arthur Foster | 1,826 | 6.6% | | |||||
| Green | Mark Powell | 735 | 2.7% | | |||||
| Independent | Gurminder Dosanjh | 218 | 0.8% | | |||||
| Better Bedford Party win | |||||||||
In 2007 Frank Branston was re-elected as mayor.
| Bedford Mayoral Election 3 May 2007 [6] | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | 1st round | 2nd round | First round votes Transfer votes | ||||
| Total | Of round | Transfers | Total | Of round | ||||
| Better Bedford Party | Frank Branston | 15,966 | 36.7% | 3,732 | 19,698 | 59.7% | | |
| Conservative | Nicky Attenborough | 10,710 | 24.6% | 2,603 | 13,313 | 40.3% | | |
| Liberal Democrats | Christine McHugh | 10,533 | 24.2% | | ||||
| Labour | Randolph Charles | 4,758 | 10.9% | | ||||
| Green | Justina McLennan | 1,538 | 3.5% | | ||||
| Better Bedford Party hold | ||||||||
A by-election took place on 15 October 2009 after the death of the previous incumbent, Frank Branston in August 2009. [7] The by-election was won by the Liberal Democrat, Dave Hodgson. [7]
| Bedford Mayoral By-Election 15 October 2009 [8] | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | 1st round | 2nd round | First round votes Transfer votes | ||||
| Total | Of round | Transfers | Total | Of round | ||||
| Liberal Democrats | Dave Hodgson | 9,428 | 26.8% | 4,127 | 13,555 | 54.0% | | |
| Conservative | Parvez Akhtar | 9,105 | 25.9% | 2,438 | 11,543 | 46.0% | | |
| Independent | Apu Bagchi | 7,631 | 21.7% | | ||||
| Independent | Tony Hare | 4,316 | 12.3% | | ||||
| Labour | James Valentine | 3,482 | 9.9% | | ||||
| Green | Eve Robinson-Morley | 1,183 | 3.4% | | ||||
| Liberal Democrats gain from Better Bedford Party | ||||||||
Dave Hodgson was elected to a full term as mayor on 5 May 2011 after being elected to finish the term of Frank Branston in 2009.
| Bedford Mayoral Election 5 May 2011 [9] | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | 1st round | 2nd round | First round votes Transfer votes | ||||
| Total | Of round | Transfers | Total | Of round | ||||
| Liberal Democrats | Dave Hodgson | 19,966 | 37.7% | 4,325 | 24,291 | 55.7% | | |
| Conservative | John Guthrie | 17,501 | 33.0% | 1,824 | 19,325 | 44.3% | | |
| Labour | Michelle Harris | 11,197 | 21.1% | | ||||
| Independent | Tony Hare | 3,133 | 5.9% | | ||||
| Green | Greg Paszynski | 1,211 | 2.3% | | ||||
| Liberal Democrats hold | ||||||||
The 2015 mayoral election took place on 7 May 2015, the same day as elections of Bedford Borough Councillors, and the UK General Election. Hodgson was re-elected.
| Bedford Mayoral Election 7 May 2015 [10] | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | 1st round | 2nd round | First round votes Transfer votes | ||||
| Total | Of round | Transfers | Total | Of round | ||||
| Liberal Democrats | Dave Hodgson | 25,282 | 31.4% | 10,020 | 35,302 | 57.1% | | |
| Conservative | Jas Parmar | 19,417 | 24.1% | 7,096 | 26,513 | 42.9% | | |
| Labour | Tim Douglas | 15,931 | 19.8% | | ||||
| Independent | Steve Lowe | 12,883 | 16.0% | | ||||
| UKIP | Adrian Haynes | 7,060 | 8.8% | | ||||
| Liberal Democrats hold | ||||||||
The 2019 mayoral election took place on 2 May 2019, the same day as the 2019 Bedford Borough Council election, as part of the 2019 United Kingdom local elections.
| Bedford Mayoral Election 2 May 2019 [11] | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | 1st round | 2nd round | First round votes Transfer votes | ||||
| Total | Of round | Transfers | Total | Of round | ||||
| Liberal Democrats | Dave Hodgson | 17,596 | 36.0% | 3,820 | 21,416 | 54.2% | | |
| Conservative | Giovanni Carafano | 15,778 | 32.3% | 2,327 | 18,105 | 45.8% | | |
| Labour | Jenni Jackson | 9,677 | 19.8% | | ||||
| Green | Adrian Spurrell | 3,239 | 6.6% | | ||||
| UKIP | Adrian Haynes | 2,627 | 5.4% | | ||||
| Liberal Democrats hold | ||||||||
The 2023 mayoral election took place on 4 May 2023, the same day as the 2023 Bedford Borough Council election, as part of the 2023 United Kingdom local elections. The candidates were Saqhib Ali (Labour Party), the incumbent Dave Hodgson (Liberal Democrats), Adrian Spurrell (Green Party), Alberto Thomas (Heritage Party), and Tom Wootton (Conservative Party). [12]
The result was declared on the night of 5 May, with Wootton defeating Hodgson by 145 votes. Unlike previous elections, this election did not provide for transfer votes due to the passing of the Elections Act 2022, which mandated that mayoral elections in England should be conducted using first-past-the-post rather than the supplementary vote system.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | Tom Wootton | 15,747 | 33.1 |  0.8 | |
| Liberal Democrats | Dave Hodgson | 15,602 | 32.8 |  3.2 | |
| Labour | Saqib Ali | 11,568 | 24.3 | 4.5 | |
| Green | Adrian Spurrell | 3,795 | 8.0 | 1.4 | |
| Heritage | Alberto Thomas | 887 | 1.9 | New | |
| Majority | 145 | 0.3 | |||
| Turnout | 47,599 | ||||
| Conservative gain from Liberal Democrats | Swing | ||||
Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of its urban area, including Kempston and Biddenham, was 106,940. Bedford is also the county town of Bedfordshire and seat of the Borough of Bedford, a unitary authority that includes a significant rural area.
Mid Bedfordshire is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament by Alistair Strathern of the Labour Party since a 2023 by-election.
Bedford Borough Council is the local authority of the Borough of Bedford in Bedfordshire, England. It is a unitary authority, having the powers of a non-metropolitan county and district council combined. The executive of the council is the directly elected mayor of Bedford. It is a member of the East of England Local Government Association.
Daniel John Rogerson is a Cornish-British Liberal Democrat politician. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for North Cornwall from the 2005 general election until his defeat at the 2015 general election. In October 2013, he became the Liberal Democrat Minister at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, holding the office until losing his Parliamentary seat to Conservative candidate Scott Mann.
Frank Branston was a journalist, novelist and newspaper proprietor, and the first directly elected mayor of the Borough of Bedford in Bedfordshire, England.
Bedford Borough Council is the local authority for the unitary authority of Bedford in Bedfordshire, England. Until 1 April 2009 it was a non-metropolitan district. Since 2002 it has also had a directly elected mayor.
Dorothy Thornhill, Baroness Thornhill, was the first directly elected mayor of Watford, Hertfordshire, England. She was the Liberal Democrats' first directly elected mayor, and was also the first female directly elected mayor in the United Kingdom. She served as Mayor of Watford from May 2002 until May 2018. She was nominated for a life peerage in August 2015.
The Mayor of Doncaster is a directly elected mayor, first elected on 2 May 2002, taking on the executive function of City of Doncaster Council. The incumbent mayor is Ros Jones elected as a member of the Labour Party, who won the election held on 2 May 2013. The position is different from the long-existing and largely ceremonial, annually appointed mayors who are now known as the civic mayor of Doncaster.
The 2003 Worthing Borough Council election took place on 1 May 2003 to elect members of Worthing Borough Council in West Sussex, England. One third of the council was up for election and the Liberal Democrats lost overall control of the council to no overall control. Overall turnout was 28.61%.
David Stuart Hodgson MBE is a British Liberal Democrat politician who served as the directly elected mayor of the Borough of Bedford in Bedfordshire, England, from 2009 to 2023. Hodgson was the second elected mayor to represent the Liberal Democrats in the United Kingdom.
The 2015 United Kingdom local elections were held on Thursday 7 May 2015, the same day as the general election for the House of Commons of the United Kingdom.
Elections of police and crime commissioners in England and Wales were held on 5 May 2016.
Mohammad Yasin is a British-Pakistani politician serving as Member of Parliament (MP) for Bedford since 2017. A member of the Labour Party, he was a Member of Bedford Borough Council from 2006 to 2019.
The 2019 Bedford Borough Council election took place on 2 May 2019 to elect members of Bedford Borough Council in England.
The 2022 Hackney London Borough Council election took place on 5 May 2022. All 57 members of Hackney London Borough Council were up for election. The elections took place alongside the election for the mayor of Hackney, local elections in the other London boroughs, and elections to local authorities across the United Kingdom.
The 2022 Southwark London Borough Council election took place on 5 May 2022. All 63 members of Southwark London Borough Council were elected. The elections took place alongside local elections in the other London boroughs and elections to local authorities across the United Kingdom.
The 2023 Bedford Borough Council election took place on 4 May 2023, electing members of Bedford Borough Council in Bedfordshire, England. An election for the borough's directly-elected mayor took place at the same time. This was the same day as other local elections.
Tom Wootton is a British Conservative Party local politician. He became the directly elected Mayor of Bedford in May 2023 local elections and was previously the Bedford Borough Councillor for Wyboston Ward.