Mayor of Copeland

Mayor of Copeland
Style	No courtesy title or style
Appointer	Electorate of Copeland
Term length	Four years
Formation	May 2014 referendum
First holder	Mike Starkie
Final holder	Mike Starkie
Abolished	1 April 2023
Salary	£50,000 [1]
Website	http://www.copelandbc.gov.uk/section/mike-starkie-elected-mayor

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.

Referendum

A 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]

Mayor of Copeland Referendum
22 May 2014

Choice	Votes	%
Elected Mayor	12,671	69.8
Cabinet System	5,489	30.2
Total votes	18,160	100.00

2015 election

The 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

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

1. "Copeland mayor to get £20k pay rise - NW Evening Mail". Nwemail.co.uk. Retrieved 5 March 2017.
2. "Mayoral referendum" (PDF). Copeland.gov.uk. Retrieved 19 June 2015.
3. "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.
4. "Copeland chooses Mike Starkie as first elected mayor". BBC News. 8 May 2015. Retrieved 9 November 2021.
5. "Copeland Mayoral - Thursday, 2nd May, 2019". Copeland.gov.uk. Retrieved 20 February 2020.