| Mayor of Copeland | |
|---|---|
Incumbent Mike Starkie | |
| Style | No courtesy title or style |
| Appointer | Electorate of Copeland |
| Term length | Four years |
| Inaugural holder | Mike Starkie |
| Formation | May 2014 referendum |
| Deputy | Lena Hogg |
| Salary | £50,000 [1] |
| Website | http://www.copelandbc.gov.uk/section/mike-starkie-elected-mayor |
The Mayor of Copeland is a directly elected mayoralty, first elected on 7 May 2015, taking on the executive function of Copeland Borough Council in Cumbria, England. The current mayor is Mike Starkie, elected as an independent candidate in 2015 and 2019 but later joining the Conservative Party.
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]
| Choice | Votes | % |
|---|---|---|
 |
12,671 | 69.8 |
| Cabinet System | 5,489 | 30.2 |
| Total votes | 18,160 | 100.00 |
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 | First round votes Transfer votes
| |||||
| 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 | |||||||||
| Copeland mayoral election 2 May 2019 [5] | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | 1st round | 2nd round | First round votes Transfer votes
| ||||
| 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 | ||||||||