Bristol voters have decided to abolish the city's directly elected mayor following a referendum.

Voters in the city yesterday turned out to decide whether they wanted a mayor or a committee system in which decisions are made by groups of councillors.

Nearly 38,500 opted to stick with the directly elected mayor, a position currently held by Labour's Marvin Rees. However, over 56,000 voted for a change to the committee system.

The total number of votes cast was 94,552 out of an electorate of 332,028. This represented a 28.6% turnout.

Mary Page, the co-founder of the campaign for change, said: ‘I'd like to start by thanking the people of Bristol for turning out to vote in much greater numbers than you did last time around 10 years ago. Thank you for trusting in us. Thank you for having belief in the system and for hoping that we can have positive change in the city of Bristol.

‘The campaign was about saying that the city belongs to us, all of us, not just to one person. And that means that we must represent all of the diverse communities and views across the city.'