City Mayors are not being scrapped!

No. We can keep our newly created DEM.

From the white paper:

"We will therefore discontinue the individual Local Authority devolution model in its mayoral form.“

Our referendum is about creating a Mayor. It has nothing to do with devolution. The councillors and other politicians have been spreading a false claim, and they know it.

It is this line - "if an individual local authority had a mayoral model of devolution" - which is key. Ours would not be this; we would have a mayoral model of leadership, not of devolution.

There is circumstantial evidence of this. For example, Sir Peter Soulsby (Leicester UA DEM) has not once referred to the possibility of his office being removed.

Our act of self-determination is covered by existing legislation - the Local government Act 2000. Over 14,000 people signed the petition because of the complete failing of our Councillor-only model, keeping 78,000 citizens in poverty for a generation and missing out on a potential £30bn of economic output over 25 years.

HM Government recognises the same failing, and wants to radically change local government structures to accelerate growth. The government wants more Mayors, not less.