Here’s a quick quiz question for you: do you know the name of your local councillor?

It could be parish, town, district or county councillor. How about the name of your MP, or the Police and Crime Commissioner?

Who’s the leader of Cornwall Council and who is in charge at County Hall in Exeter?

Unless you have had a specific need to contact an elected representative recently, the chances are you might struggle to name them.

When I was working for the BBC it was part of my job to know who they were and I took great pride in being able to reel off their names.

But since I have stepped back from full-time journalism I am not sure I could name quite so many of them now.

I saw the new Exmouth and Exeter East MP on television last week and realised I’d never heard of him and he’s been in office since last July! It’s David Reed in case you were wondering.

The point is, most of us are too busy trying to make ends meet everyday to take a great deal of interest in the many layers of local government.

Which is why it’s perhaps surprising there’s talk of adding yet another layer.

As we all worry about paying our bills and keeping a roof over our heads, the powers-that-be are debating whether we should have a mayor for the whole of the South West.

This would be an all-powerful individual who would represent the entire South West peninsula and who would be able to unlock lots of extra funding for the region apparently.

It would also mean more powers devolved from Westminster and placed in the hands of the new Mayor of the South West.

So far, so what? Well, it seems that ideally everyone needs to be on board. Cornwall, Plymouth, Torbay and the rest of Devon would all need to be part of this.

And there’s the problem!

Many of Cornwall’s elected representatives have categorically told Devon where it can stick the idea.

Let’s face it we can’t even get cross border agreement on the correct way to serve a cream tea, so there’s no way a fiercely independent Cornwall is going to want to hitch its wagon to Devon.

But will Cornwall be cutting off its nose to spite its face? Will Plymouth, Exeter, Torbay and the rest of Devon suck all the cash away from Cornwall?

Can a separate, independent and fully devolved Cornwall compete for funds against the combined forces of the more heavily populated county of Devon?

Do we even need a South West mayor fighting for money from Westminster? Isn’t that what our MPs are supposed to be doing?

The idea of a super-mayor for the region raises a huge number of questions with the biggest one being: do many people really care?

If you take the Police and Crime Commissioner role as an example, the turnout to elect a candidate to that post last year was less than a quarter of the entire voting population of Devon and Cornwall. (Twenty-two point five per cent according to the BBC).

That means more than three-quarters of the population were not motivated to turn out and vote. Hardly a ringing endorsement!

Perhaps many people still don’t know what the Commissioner’s role is and assume it’s only the chief constable who’s responsible for policing in Devon and Cornwall, although it’s hard to know who the heck that is these days.

We currently have an interim chief constable in place of the acting chief constable who himself was acting for the actual chief constable!

When I was working on BBC Spotlight I was frequently required to hold the Police and Crime Commissioner to account.

I remember one famously stormy encounter with the previous incumbent, Tony Hogg. He wanted to employ some extra staff in his office and I asked him if he thought the public might prefer the money to be spent on actual police officers.

I seem to remember the reply was that the money came from a different pot.

In the end it’s all public money of course and that brings me back to the idea of a South West Mayor.

How much will the role cost and how many staff will be required to support it? And most importantly who’s going to pay for it? Will it come out of general taxation or will it be added to our Council Tax?

A lot of work needs to be done to engage the public in this idea. First off how to convince sceptics in Cornwall that its unique heritage, culture and identity wouldn’t be lost if it joined forces with the wider South West.

Secondly, how much money is actually at stake? If, as supporters suggest, this is the best way to tap in to additional funding for the region, how much are we talking about and what guarantees will we have that the extra cash would come our way?

Thirdly, where would locally elected councils fit into the new set up?

It’s going to be fascinating to see how this plays out. I will be watching with great interest, although I suspect I will be in the minority.

Rightly, most people will instead be focussing on how they’re going to afford the Council Tax rise or will they be able to see a GP or will they be able to pay the electricity bill?

The question of whether there should be a mayor for the South West will be a very, very long way down the list of priorities for most families.

Bye for now!