ERDINGTON MP Sion Simon this week announced he is to stand down and work towards becoming Birmingham’s first elected mayor. His decision is likely to spark a scramble in the hunt to find a new Labour candidate to contest the ‘safe’ seat in a General Election - likely to be just a few months away. Mr Simon will leave his job as Minister for Creative Industries and says he plans to become a city councillor in order to have a platform to campaign for the post of a London-style elected mayor. The MP, who at times has courted controversy, is currently in the process of repaying £21,000 he received from House of Commons expenses to rent a London flat from his sister, Ceri Erskine. He lived at the property in the Regent’s Park area of London from 2003, when he split from his wife, until the end of 2007 – at a cost of £1,000 a month. Mr Simon said last year that Commons authorities had cleared the arrangement, but in April 2006 a new rule prohibited MPs from renting from family members. It is one of the biggest amounts any MP has had to repay as a result of the expenses scandal. Conservatives have pledged big cities such as Birmingham will be ordered to hold referenda on elected mayors if they win the election. They believe a powerful elected leader would help major cities compete internationally and better control local services. The 41-year-old MP has represented Erdington since 2001 and won his seat with a majority of 9,575 in the 2005 election. He said: “It has become clear to me that the answers to Birmingham’s problems do not lie in Westminster and Whitehall. We need to take back control of our own city. We need strong, dynamic leadership with streamlined decision-making powers. The current 19th century arrangements give us neither. The city council, as an institution, is not fit for purpose in the 21st century.” | 
