‘Proud Hartcliffe boy’ Tony Dyer officially becomes new leader of Bristol City Council

'Proud Hartcliffe boy' Tony Dyer has officially become the new leader of Bristol City Council in a role similar to mayor. The Green councillor for Southville was voted in by councillors to lead the council, and pledged to work with other parties to 'help provide a better future' for Bristol.

A former bricklayer, Cllr Dyer was first elected in 2021 and previously ran to become mayor of Bristol. He will represent the council politically, for example with the government and the media, and guide the direction of the council’s overall strategy, but will have less power than a mayor.

During a full council meeting yesterday, he thanked councillors for choosing him as leader, and said they were the 'most powerful group' elected in over two decades. The council has now switched from being run by a mayor to eight committees, sharing power across councillors.

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He said: “As a proud Hartcliffe boy, this is a very proud moment for me. I would like to congratulate all the councillors who have been successfully elected. You are now collectively the most powerful group of councillors that have been elected to this chamber for almost 25 years.

“Almost all of you will be sitting on policy committees where the decision-making power of this council will now largely vest with you. You will all have the power to take decisions impacting the whole city, on its residents, economy, health and wellbeing, natural environment, and its future. To quote Spiderman, with great power comes great responsibility.

“Each of you, as decision-makers in this council, now have the power to affect the lives of tens of thousands of our fellow Bristolians. Often, I hope, positively. But given the financial, environmental and societal pressures facing our city, there will be times when you will have to make tough decisions.

“All of us, as a collective body of powerful decision-makers, need to accept with greater responsibility that those decisions are made in both a timely and informed manner, and to the best of our abilities. Our citizens deserve nothing less.”

The Green Party won the local elections held in Bristol earlier in May, falling just two short of an outright majority. They now have 34 councillors, while Labour has 20, the Liberal Democrats eight, and the Conservatives seven.

The Greens will chair six of the eight policy committees, responsible for specific areas such as social care or transport, while the Liberal Democrats will chair the other two. Councillors from all parties will sit on these committees, influencing council policies and how public money is spent.

Cllr Dyer added: “Clearly the recent elections have been very successful for my own party, and it has been accepted by others that we now have a mandate to deliver upon our manifesto. However we have also made it clear we will be looking to work cross-party and collaboratively.

“We’ll help other parties deliver their good ideas as well. No single party has a monopoly on good ideas. None of us in this chamber have a monopoly on good ideas. This is why we’ll continue the work of One City to share and develop ideas from organisations across the city.

“We’ll also continue to work with the combined authority and neighbouring authorities, particularly on things like transport, skills and investment. As one of the UK’s major core cities, we will continue to leverage that collective bargaining opportunity to secure support from an incoming government to help us address the problems facing all of our cities.

“Bristol continues to be a European city. We’ll continue to forge relationships with our fellow European cities as we seek to learn from other cities and share our ideas with them.”

One change under the committee system is power will also be spread out across Bristol, with more decisions taken in local communities rather than in City Hall. Work is still ongoing to flesh out how the new area committees can have their say on issues in specific neighbourhoods, but Cllr Dyer said the council 'should not be afraid to reach out for good ideas'.

He said: “Although Bristol is seen by many as a successful city, it remains a city with deep divisions within it. Many of our residents are unable to share fully in its successes. So when we reach out for good ideas, we should not be afraid to reach out to our own residents and our own communities to seek ideas, particularly from those who need our support the most.

“Until we are able to demonstrate clear, measurable improvements on the lives of our residents from right across the city, we cannot truly describe ourselves as a successful city. With great power does come great responsibility, and I take on this role as leader knowing that it comes with that responsibility to help provide a better future for all of our residents.”

Green Cllr Heather Mack was chosen as deputy leader of the council, and Liberal Democrat Cllr Andrew Varney was chosen as the next lord mayor, a ceremonial role. The change from a mayor to the committee system follows a city-wide referendum in 2022.