RADICAL cuts in the ability of an elected mayor to rule Watford unimpeded for four years have been proposed by Green candidate Steve Rackett.

Under the current rules, and given the manifestos of all the candidates, whoever is elected mayor will be in office until the next mayoral election, in 2006.

But Mr Rackett said he would be bound by a "recall pledge", making a poorly performing mayor stand down and fight another election.

He said: "This is an American style post. But unusually it doesn't have the same process of recalling a mayor.

"In some states in America, a mayor can be forced to resign and fight a new election if 20 per cent of the public sign a petition calling for it."

He continued: "It doesn't matter how badly a mayor is doing in the UK, they can't be forced out until the end of the four year term unless they are jailed for more than six months."

He called for other mayoral candidates to demonstrate they would be truly accountable by signing up to a recall pledge.

But it was dismissed by Labour candidate Vince Muspratt, who said he had "no sympathy" with the proposal.

He said: "Every six months the Conservatives would get out their 20 per cent of supporters to remove the mayor. Six months later the Liberal Democrats would do the same thing. That is the way it would operate."

Liberal Democrat Iain Sharpe said he understood what the Green was trying to achieve. But he said the answer was to have a better balance of power between mayor and Council.

At present, the mayor can push through a political programme with minority support in the Council.

A spokesman for the Conservative campaign said the recall proposal was unworkable in practice.

He said Tory Gary Ling would avoid the threat to democracy of a mayor by running the Council with broad cross party support.

With an electorate of about 75,000, a petition of some 15,000 would be needed to push the mayor from office.

The two most popular parties in previous local elections have failed to poll this level of support between them.

Mr Rackett's comments came after new concerns were raised about exactly what the mayor will be able to do.

The unease his policy reflects and seeks to counter emerged during the week after the constitution approved on Wednesday, April 3.

It was passed by a single vote majority, with six of those who backed it admitting they either did not fully understand, or had reservations about what it contained.

Mr Rackett also ruled out any Political Advisors if elected mayor. He said there would be no room for "sympathetic political staff" in his administration, and called the constitution which allows for a paid unelected political post "a charter to hand out jobs to their friends at the expense of Council Tax payers".

A final "accountability" policy proposed by the Green was a Compliance Officer.

This person would not answer to the mayor, but a cross party committee. Watford residents would also sit on the body.

The Compliance Officer would distribute records of regular staff management meetings, and publish a monthly report on the mayor's performance on matters of openness.

Council staff would also be able to report abuses of power by the mayor of a Political Advisor to the officer.

The Compliance post would be financed by a 50 per cent cut in the mayor's salary to £25,000.

April 12, 2002 14:00