Can mayors be the answer to low public trust in government?

Low public trust in government as an institution is a persistent problem. So how could it be restored?

New research from the Institute for Government, More in Common and the University of York suggests that mayors could play a role in reconnecting the public and government. But it also highlights that mayors, or even improved delivery of government policy and services, do not by themselves repair the relationship between the public and government, which needs to be addressed by government and politicians at all levels.

We found a notable gap in perception between people’s experiences of government, which were generally quite positive, and their negative feelings about trusting government to act in their interests. We asked 5,000 members of the public about whether the services delivered locally were to a good or bad standard, and generally people were positive about their experience of government services like bin collections, schools, and libraries. There were some important exceptions where people were more negative, like council housing, benefit services, and planning. But, on the whole, the public was fairly positive about the standard of delivery.

However, when it came to questions about whether they trusted government to act in the interests of people like them, to do its job well, or admit it has made mistakes, the public was much less confident. National government was less trusted than local government and regional mayors, in the areas that have them, but all tiers of government saw a dip in public perception when it came to issues of trust. 

Delivery alone does not account for the public’s view of government 

While continually improving service delivery clearly matters and is rightly a focus for government departments, local and combined authorities, this ‘perception gap’ shows that delivery alone does not account for public perceptions of government. As well as services, public perceptions are also shaped by the major tasks people see government as being responsible for, like managing the economy and controlling immigration, and the key question of whose interest they perceive government is acting for.

When people talked about how they felt let down by government, they often referred to ‘broken promises’, and how their specific local priorities were not reflected in their experiences of government policy. For example, the state of their local neighbourhood, or the perceived imposition of a high concentration of asylum seeker accommodation in their locality. This is particularly important when policy makers are considering measures which impact on social cohesion, which our survey showed huge variance in around the country. In London, people agreed by a margin of 34 percentage points that people of different ethnicities and cultures get on local; whereas in Yorkshire and the Humber, this margin was just two points. It matters that the public see national and regional politicians sharing their local priorities, but so does showing that politicians account for the local effects of their decisions. 

The public trust mayors – but are not clear about what they do

Mayors were trusted more than local government and certainly national government to act in the interests of people like them, in the places that have them. The mayors we spoke to for the research told us that an important part of their profile is that they put local people ahead of party politics, and can work collaboratively with whoever they need to to get things done. Mayors were also more likely to be credited than blamed, compared to other tiers of government, and several mayors mentioned their association with clear tangible policies that help people day-to-day, like lower bus fares. But mayors were also seen as not responsible for very much, and there is a lack of clear understanding amongst the public about what the mayors are responsible for. So as greater devolution is rolled out, mayors should be empowered to retain their distinctive voice as champions of their region, as well reviewing the unevenness of mayoral responsibilities at the next stage of devolution.

To really rebuild public trust in government, policy makers will have to go beyond devolution. Government at all levels has to be more clearly focussed on very local delivery that matches people's priorities where they live, and repair the fundamentals of the relationship by demonstrating it acts on behalf of the public. The public want credible promises delivered, including on what they see as the main tasks of government like managing the economy and controlling immigration, as well as on their local priorities.

What members of the public said to us they were looking for from government was not unreasonable. If anything, they wanted politicians to be more realistic. They are looking for more honesty about what government can and will do, and it is that directness and accountability that needs to be put at the centre of any moves towards greater devolution of power.