A little more than a month is remaining for households across Liverpool to have their say on how the city council is governed.
After being elected last May, Mayor Joanne Anderson vowed to campaign to effectively do away with her own job through a referendum. That option was deemed too expensive and as a result, a consultation running until June was agreed upon.
A total of three options have been put forward - leader and cabinet model, committee system, or maintaining the Mayoralty and the positions of each party on how they think you should put your views across is becoming clearer. At a heated meeting of the Liverpool Labour group on Monday, it was confirmed that they would back the removal of the elected mayor position that they brought in 10 years ago.
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Cllr Tom Crone, leader of the Green Party group, said previously a referendum was a “worthwhile use of council resources to ensure this city is governed properly.” Cllr Crone criticised Labour’s plan for a consultation, claiming it represented “wasted money,” would be non-binding and failed to guarantee any meaningful level of engagement.
Of the existing Mayoral system, St Michaels ward member Cllr Crone, said it had “failed” and the lack of referendum on the position being established in 2012 had created a “democratic deficit” which had “dogged” the city ever since.
His group have now come out in favour of a committee system. Cllr Crone said: "The public rightly complains about 'yah-boo' politics and it is shocking how often the debates in the council chamber descend into pointless political point scoring because decisions are really taken elsewhere.
"A committee system means different parties having to sit down together and really decide how best to deliver for the people of Liverpool. Councillors would soon realise that they agree on a lot, while learning to respect distinctive perspectives.
"The imposed Mayoral system opened the door to the shame of the Joe Anderson’s years, and slammed it shut on transparency and democratic accountability. It’s time to ditch the personality politics and let the people back in."
Cllr Anna Rothery, leader of the newly formed Liverpool Community Independents group, said removing the Mayor and Deputy Mayor’s salaries would have paid towards a binding referendum. She said: “A pledge is a pledge a referendum was promised by the mayor even the original three candidates pledged they would call a referendum.
“To call for a consultation that is not legally binding is a false economy. In a city that needs every penny we have.
“If a referendum took place then yes it would cost more but the people of Liverpool would have their say. If that say was to remove the elected mayor it would save the city £85,000 plus the deputy mayor’s salary per year.
"Which would potentially pay for the consultation in the first year and restore democracy to the city which In turn would foster confidence amongst our people.” Liberal Democrat group leader Cllr Richard Kemp used his blog to explain why his group would back a committee system.
Under this model, a council elects a leader but power is exercised by a number of committees, made up of councillors proportionate to the representation of each party on the council. Wirral Council has operated this system since 2020 but Labour councillors in the borough have since admitted it was “rushed in to” and the authority’s director of law and governance said there was an element of “suck it and see.”
Cllr Kemp said adopting the committee approach would mean “better decision making because the experience of all councillors across all the city will be used to create the council policies that we need.” He added that: “It’s clear that the people of Liverpool detest and will abolish the Elected Mayoralty” and claimed anyone voting to maintain the status quo “would be mad”.
The veteran member also criticised the way the consultation was being communicated with city residents when he said the letter landing on doormats was “uninspiring and badly thought out”. Liberal Group leader, Cllr Steve Radford, has backed the Labour proposal, praising the logic around council finances but ultimately wanted to see a Mayoral system implemented with proportional representation.
If the council then votes to bring in a change of governance style, it will take effect from the elections in May 2023 and will be binding on the local authority for five years. Liverpool Council has added ballot boxes to One Stop Shops and libraries across the city to encourage more people to get involved before the June deadline.
