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Liverpool mayor faces fresh challenge amid motion to scrap role

Getty Images Joe AndersonGetty Images
Joe Anderson has led Liverpool's council since 2010, becoming mayor in 2012

Liverpool mayor Joe Anderson is facing a fresh challenge to his leadership amid calls for the role of elected city mayor to be scrapped.

Senior Labour councillor and former deputy mayor Ann O'Byrne has tabled a motion proposing a return to the council leader model.

Mr Anderson described the move, announced after polls closed in the local elections, as "distasteful".

The city's Liberal Democrats signalled they would support the motion.

Ms O'Byrne, who quit Mr Anderson's cabinet last year, tabled the motion to go before the ruling Labour group's AGM on 13 May.

It proposes a return to a leader and cabinet model, which Liverpool used before Mr Anderson became mayor in 2012.

She hailed the city mayor position as too "presidential", claiming it had taken the leadership role away from ordinary people.

PA Ballot box at election countPA
The move was announced as results continued to come in following England's local elections

But Mr Anderson dismissed these claims, insisting it was "more democratic for the people of Liverpool to directly elect the mayor" rather than a leader being elected by councillors.

He added that he had not spoken Ms O'Byrne for some time.

The announcement came just after polls closed with Labour remaining in control of Liverpool City Council.

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Analysis: BBC Merseyside political reporter Claire Hamilton

This is an amplification of the internal wrangles within Labour in Liverpool. After losing three seats to the Liberal Democrats in the 2018 local elections, Mr Anderson sacked cabinet member Nick Small. A further senior councillor Steve Munby also quit in protest.

It's not clear whether Ann O'Byrne would have the numbers to get the motion approved.

If passed at the AGM, a proposal could be put forward to a full council meeting later this year.

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Last July, the Liberal Democrats called an extraordinary council meeting where every Labour councillor voted against the motion to begin the process to abolish the role of elected mayor.

Lib Dem leader Richard Kemp said he welcomed the "change of heart of councillor O'Byrne and will be putting it to the test" by calling for another extraordinary meeting on 22 May "to remove this position for good".