Liverpool City Council votes to scrap elected mayor role

Councillors in Liverpool have voted to scrap the role of elected mayor.

The ruling Labour Party argued that it was time for a change and in May 2023 the council will return to a leader and cabinet model, as it was prior to 2012.

It follows a public consultation in which people chose to stay with the mayoral model but only 3% of Liverpool residents had responded.

Liberal Democrat leader Richard Kemp described Liverpool's mayoral experience as a "disaster".

On Monday Chief Executive Tony Reeves resigned from the authority, which is being overseen by government commissioners, with immediate effect.

During the past decade there have been two Labour mayors - Joe Anderson and Joanne Anderson. The pair are not related.

In a lengthy council debate opposition councillors accused Labour of "taking the mickey" out of voters, who had put the leader and cabinet model as their least favoured option in the poll.

The results showed that 40% were in favour of keeping the current directly-elected mayoral model.

About a third preferred a committee system while 23.6% opted for a cabinet-style way of working.

But Labour councillors argued that as just 3% of the city's eligible population took part in the exercise, no mandate could be claimed for a particular model.

Liberal leader at the council Steve Radford told Labour: "You are saying we are going to vote for the least popular option and after asking the people of the city, we don't give a damn what they think."

The current mayor Joanne Anderson pledged to hold a formal referendum on the future of the mayoralty in her election campaign last year.

The council chose to hold a less costly public consultation in the end after it was decided that the next Liverpool City Council elections would be moved from this year to next year.

The move to all-out elections, held every four years and starting in 2023, was one of the changes brought in after the damning Max Caller government inspection report, which revealed poor practise, dysfunction and bullying in various council departments.

Opposition councillors expressed frustration at the way the public consultation was carried out and the way the results were treated by the Labour group.

Liberal Democrat, Mr Kemp said: "The elected mayoralty has been a huge mistake and we'll be paying for it in terms of cash and reputation for years to come."

Speaking after the meeting, leader of the Liverpool Community Independent Group Anna Rothery said the people of the city had been "sold a pup" when it came to the elected mayor.

She also criticised the consultation and described it as "unjust" and said she did not think residents "understood that the brown envelope came through their door".

While the battle goes on behind the scenes to select a Labour group leader, campaigners hoping to force a referendum on the issue have limited time to collect the 16,000 signatures needed to do so.

Labour Councillor and Assistant Mayor Paul Brant said: "They have every right to do that, but on past experience there is no evidence that is what the public wants."

He said he hoped the vote would draw a line under the debate and allow the council to focus on issues that people really cared about.

Recent years have seen the authority marred by various controversies.

Earlier in July the city's assistant mayor hit back at claims by former Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove that "weak leadership" had led to commissioners being brought in to run parts of the council in March 2021.

Labour's Paul Brant said the situation did not reflect the current administration and the city's mayor had "acted promptly" to resolve any problems.

In May it was revealed an error saw the council's energy bill increase by £10m.

A month later a report revealed the council failed to renew service contracts to the cost of millions of pounds.

In December 2020 former mayor Joe Anderson stepped aside following his arrest on suspicion of conspiracy to commit bribery and witness intimidation. He denies any wrongdoing.

Why not follow BBC North West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram? You can also send story ideas to [email protected]