A quiet piece of secondary legislation has redrawn the rules for England's devolved mayoralties. From 18 June 2026, elections for combined authority mayors and combined county authority mayors move back to the supplementary vote system, undoing the first-past-the-post change made by the Elections Act 2022. (hansard.parliament.uk) It is a dry-looking change with live consequences. These are the elections used to choose leaders of combined authorities and combined county authorities, and Parliament has only just overhauled that wider devolution framework through the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026. (commonsbusiness.parliament.uk)

In plain terms, the change brings back first and second preferences when three or more candidates are standing. If a candidate wins more than 50 per cent of first preferences, they are elected outright; if not, everyone bar the top two is knocked out and relevant second preferences are added on. Where only two candidates stand, the winner is simply the one with the majority. (publications.parliament.uk) This is not just a line change in the statute book. The Government has also had to amend conduct rules, ballot papers, postal voting statements and voter instructions so the machinery of an election matches the voting system now back in force. (hansard.parliament.uk)

There is an important catch, and it is a practical one. Elections already formally under way are not meant to be bounced into a different system halfway through, so the new arrangements do not retrospectively bite once the notice of election has been published under the old timetable. (commonsbusiness.parliament.uk) That saving matters because ministers were not moving at leisure. In a written statement on 21 May 2026, Samantha Dixon said the Government wanted the supporting secondary legislation in force by 19 June and was acting because a Greater Manchester mayoral election could become necessary in the months ahead. (hansard.parliament.uk)

Ministers argue supplementary vote is a better fit for single-person executive jobs such as mayors because it produces a 'broader level of support' for the winner. That has been the Government's line since the Bill was introduced in July 2025, and it was written into the Act that received Royal Assent on 29 April 2026. (commonsbusiness.parliament.uk) Critics will note that voters have now been pushed from supplementary vote to first past the post and back again in the space of a few years. But the legal direction of travel is clear enough on 18 June 2026: for these mayoralties, first and second preferences are back. (legislation.gov.uk)

For the North, this is more than election-law housekeeping. In Cumbria, the combined authority is already telling residents that the county's first mayoral election in May 2027 will use the supplementary vote system, with voters choosing first and second preferences, and that office will help steer transport, economic development, housing and regeneration, and skills. (cumbria-ca.gov.uk) That is the real story behind the dry statutory wording. When Westminster changes the voting system for mayoral authorities, it changes the route into offices that now carry real weight in regional decision-making. (gov.uk)

Whitehall says no significant impact is expected for business, charities, voluntary bodies or the public sector. On paper, this is a technical switch. In practice, it may push campaigns in crowded fields to think harder about second-preference appeal as well as headline support, because the winner has to look acceptable beyond their core vote. That point should not be overstated, but it is a different political test. (commonsbusiness.parliament.uk) For voters across England's mayoral areas, the immediate takeaway is simple enough: the next combined authority or combined county authority ballot with three or more names on it will ask more than one question of the electorate. After years of chopping and changing, that is now the rule again. (publications.parliament.uk)