Local Government minister Nick Raynsford has backed down after threatening to force Bradford Council to give residents a say over whether they wanted an elected mayor.

And the Government has made a u-turn and dropped its policy of intervening when it believed councils had deliberately avoided the mayoral option.

It comes less than two months after a round of mayoral elections which saw a candidate wearing a monkey suit being elected in Hartlepool.

London's mayor Ken Livingstone's collisions with the Government are also said to have weakened Tony Blair's resolve to have powerful elected first citizens in all Britain's major cities.

Bradford South MP Gerry Sutcliffe admitted today that the Hartlepool "monkey" - a football mascot who beat political opponents to become mayor of the town - may have had some bearing on the Government's change of heart.

But he warned: "Bradford hasn't been let off the hook. The Council has to improve or it will become a failing authority and that means the Government can step in in other ways."

Today leaders of all the Council's main political groups were jubilant after Mr Raynsford announced in Westminster last night that the Government would not intervene to make Bradford, Birmingham and Thurrock have referendums on a "people's" mayor. But he said local people could still force a referendum if they collected petitions bearing the signatures of a fifth of electors.

But Professor Gerry Stoker, chairman of the national Local Government Network - a think tank on modern local government - said: "We regret that people in Bradford are not going to get an early opportunity to vote in a mayoral referendum, despite consultation evidence showing widespread support for a directly elected mayor."

He added : "The impetus is now upon the ability of local people to deliver successful petition campaigns. I hope there will be enough drive in Bradford to do it."

A huge consultation exercise carried out by Bradford Council last year showed 18,000 people in favour of the existing system with the Council leader chairing an all-party executive committee which takes the key decisions.

But 13,000 people wanted an elected mayor leading a cabinet and 6,670 people wanted an elected mayor leading the district with his own manager.