AS Southampton voters weigh up their political choices in Thursday's local elections, the chances are whoever they pick will not be able to claim a majority.

For nine years, the city council has drifted with no overall control - until an unprecedented Labour and Lib Dem coup in February seized power from a minority Tory administration to end the deadlock.

Now an influential think tank has joined the minister for local government in urging Southampton to consider a better option to end the stalemate - by electing a powerful elected mayor to boost democracy.

This week, April 23, the centre-left Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) recommended PM Gordon Brown introduce them in every major town and city.

Currently, there are only 12 in Britain, but the think tank argued more would give stronger political leadership, clearer accountability and encourage central government to devolve more powers to a "safe pair of locally accountable hands".

Communities and local government secretary Hazel Blears is also a fan.

She told the Daily Echo that having a highly- visible, directly-elected leader who could "make things happen" would help improve accountability as well as the quality of local government.

Speaking in Westminster, she said: "The longer I'm in this job, the more important I think it is that there's visible, accountable leadership at every level. The public is increasingly keen to see who's responsible and who they can hold to account when things are not going the way they want them to. I personally think elected mayors are a good thing."

Ms Blears said two mayors of London boroughs had transformed their local councils from "basket cases" to high performing authorities - and told the Daily Echo such a system could also benefit Southampton.

She said: "I personally would like to see more elected mayors, particularly in big cities where people are looking for a leader. People who can make deals with the private sector, people who can make things happen. If you have one person there is a very clear way of doing it."

Ms Blears cautioned there was a need to ensure any powerful executive mayor was kept in check by other elected representatives.

She said: "We don't simply want someone who's a despot going in an untrammelled direction. But if you have proper checks and balances in the system, having one leader is a good thing."

And research by Gerry Stoker, professor of governance at Southampton University, and others conducted over the past five years seems to back up the claims.

Councillors, officers and other stakeholders in a sample of 40 authorities with and without mayors said decision-making was quicker, leadership was stronger and more accountable, the public was more involved in decisions, and relations with partners improved.

Yet Southampton's councillors seem, perhaps unsurprisingly, resistant to a change that, while not getting rid of their jobs, would reduce their powers and influence.

Labour council leader June Bridle claimed elected mayors have not worked elsewhere and was against the idea, particularly the prospect of ending up with a football club mascot as in Hartlepool, which elected a monkey.

Lib Dem group leader Adrian Vinson said the results of elected mayors were patchy and said they would still need to work with a politically-divided council. The Tories have expressed mixed views within their ranks. However, national party leader David Cameron has recently called for them to be introduced across big cities.

The Daily Echo recently reported how the dynamic mayor of Montpellier Georges Frêches, a coastal city of similar size to Southampton, has transformed its fortunes over past 30 years.

And on a recent environmental fact-finding visit to Southampton, US mayors set out how the continuity of leadership can better make longer term visions a reality.

Tom Bates, mayor of Berkeley in California, told the Echo: "One of the things we do know is that mayors who are in place for a long time have a chance to have vision, and get a hold of a vision, and if you have constant turnover and constant change and shifting of political sands then it makes it very difficult to make things happen."

The option of directly-elected mayors for local authorities in England and Wales was introduced under Prime Minister Tony Blair in 2000. Councils that want to move to a mayoral system are required to obtain the public's approval through a referendum.

New legislation will mean they merely have to consult before switching to a mayor. The IPPR wants the petition threshold reduced to three per cent of the electorate.

To date, there have been 35 referendums, of which 12 were passed and 23 were rejected by voters, most recently in Darlington in September.

l Visit to see a list of candidates for the May 1 local elections.