TheMayor of Bedford is adirectly elected mayor responsible for the executive function, and ceremonial duty ofBedford Borough Council inBedfordshire. The incumbent isTom Wootton of theConservative Party, elected in May 2023.

The first known reference to a Mayor of Bedford in England was in 1264.

Prior to the Municipal Corporations Act, 1835, the Mayor of Bedford came into office on 29 September. The first Mayor of the reformed Corporation came into office on 1 January 1836, and subsequent Mayors on 9 November. After the Local Government Act, 1948, and the Local Government Act, 1972, the Mayors from 1949 onwards came into office in May. The civic mayor was replaced by a directly elected mayor in 2002.

Since April 2009 theBorough of Bedford is aunitary authority, with the executive having the powers and functions of both anon-metropolitan district and anon-metropolitan county.

Bedford held a referendum on 21 February 2002 on whether to introduce a directly elected mayor after a petition was signed by at least 5% of the electorate. The move was approved with 11,316 voting in favour and 5,357 against on aturnout of 15.5%.^[1]

Mayor of Bedford referendum
21 February 2002

Choice	Votes	%
Elected Mayor	11,316	66.78
Cabinet System	5,537	33.22
Valid votes	16,843	99.60
Invalid or blank votes	34	0.40
Total votes	16887	100.00
Registered voters/turnout	108,817	15.54
Source: Bedford Borough Council[2]

The first mayoral election on 17 October 2002 sawindependentFrank Branston elected as mayor.^[3]

In 2007 Frank Branston was re-elected as mayor.

A by-election took place on 15 October 2009 after the death of the previousincumbent, Frank Branston in August 2009.^[7] The by-election was won by the Liberal Democrat,Dave Hodgson.^[7]

Dave Hodgson was elected to a full term as mayor on 5 May 2011 after being elected to finish the term of Frank Branston in 2009.

The 2015 mayoral election took place on 7 May 2015, the same day as elections of Bedford Borough Councillors, and theUK General Election. Hodgson was re-elected.

The 2019 mayoral election took place on 2 May 2019, the same day as the2019 Bedford Borough Council election, as part of the2019 United Kingdom local elections.

The 2023 mayoral election took place on 4 May 2023, the same day as the2023 Bedford Borough Council election, as part of the2023 United Kingdom local elections. The candidates were Saqhib Ali (Labour Party), the incumbentDave Hodgson (Liberal Democrats), Adrian Spurrell (Green Party), Alberto Thomas (Heritage Party), and Tom Wootton (Conservative Party).^[13]

The result was declared on the night of 5 May, with Wootton defeating Hodgson by 145 votes. Unlike previous elections, this election did not provide for transfer votes due to the passing of theElections Act 2022, which mandated that mayoral elections in England should be conducted usingfirst-past-the-post rather than thesupplementary vote system.

Bedford Mayoral Election 4 May 2023^[14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Tom Wootton	15,747	33.1	0.8
	Liberal Democrats	Dave Hodgson	15,602	32.8	3.2
	Labour	Saqib Ali	11,568	24.3	4.5
	Green	Adrian Spurrell	3,795	8.0	1.4
	Heritage	Alberto Thomas	887	1.9	New
Majority			145	0.3
Turnout			47,599
	Conservativegain fromLiberal Democrats		Swing

• List of Mayors of Bedford

• Mayors of places in Bedfordshire
• Borough of Bedford
• Mayoralties covering a single local authority in England

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