Voters in Oxford will have to wait another two years for a chance to say whether they want an elected mayor running the city -- despite the Prime Minister's belief that it's the most effective way of restoring local democracy.

The Government is trying to resurrect its dream of having a directly elected mayor running every major city. Tony Blair told the Oxford Mail this week: "Personally I am in favour of extending the mayoral system. People keep saying it hasn't worked. I would disagree actually."

But three years after the council first rejected the idea, the Prime Minister's recommendation has received another lukewarm reception.

City council leader Alex Hollingsworth said: "As far as I am concerned, this is a finger- in-the-air job from someone in Whitehall and I am not a fan.

"I think there are strong arguments for having a system with authorities as a whole making decisions rather than one person. There are better things to be worrying about." Oxford was among 19 local authorities to reject the idea.

The best-known elected mayor is London's Ken Livingstone.

Only a dozen cities have embraced the system, including Middlesbrough and Hartlepool -- where H'Angus the monkey, the football team mascot, was voted in.

Oxfordshire county councillor John Power, who led the Demox (Democratically Elected Mayor for Oxford) campaign in 2002, said: "At the moment we have ships without captains -- who is to blame on the city council when things go wrong?

"In Hartlepool the situation is working well. The mayor gets the little things sorted out while committees get the big things done.

"If we are going to have an executive committee it should not be indirectly elected -- people should vote for their leader."

In 2002 Oxford's voters rejected the idea and the city council retained its traditional system. No further referendums can be held for five years, which means the earliest Oxford voters will get to have another say is 2007.

Current Lord Mayor of Oxford Bryan Keen said: "I am not a fan -- the position would have to be paid out of council tax and the cost would be enormous."