Liverpool's political future changed forever tonight.
A humid night at the town hall saw angry rows, insults and plenty of bickering - but ultimately the city council settled an issue that it has been discussing for years. The city council voted to remove the position of elected mayor that it brought in back in 2012. Liverpool will once again be run using a leader and cabinet model from May 2023.
Here we look at that decision that came about tonight as well as a few other notable moments from a fiery night in Liverpool Town Hall.
End of the mayor
In 2012 Liverpool Council adopted a new governance style that would see it bring in the position of a directly elected mayor. The change in governance style from the existing leader and cabinet model was controversial as it was done without a city-wide referendum. That first mayor was Joe Anderson who would win a second term in 2016, before stepping down following his arrest in 2020.
His replacement was Joanne Anderson and tonight she led her ruling Labour group to vote to remove the position she currently holds from May 2023 onwards. After more than a decade, the position of elected Mayor of Liverpool will be no more.
Follow the leader
The removal of the mayoral position was arguably the easier aspect of tonight's meeting. The big arguments came around the discussion of what should replace it.
Labour had pledged to hold a referendum on governance styles, but when elections were moved to next year the council said it couldn't justify the cost. Instead an 8-week public consultation was held, with only 4% of the city's residents responding.
The options on the table included sticking with the current mayoral system, reverting back to the leader and cabinet model the council had before 2012 (where a council leader is the leader of the largest group) - or a committee system, where decisions are made through a series of committees of councillors from different parties.
Despite the leader and cabinet model coming bottom of the pile in the consultation results, Labour instantly announced they planned to use their majority of votes to push it through at tonight's meeting. And that's what they did, meaning from May 2023, Liverpool will once again be governed by a council leader and cabinet model.
'Taking the micky'
Labour's move did not go down well with the opposition parties tonight, its fair to say they were all pretty furious. Green leader Tom Crone said the ruling group were 'taking the micky' out of residents and asked how Labour councillors could 'keep straight faces' while voting for the least popular option.
Liberal leader Steve Radford told Labour councillors 'you are telling the people of the city that we don't give a damn what they think." while Liberal Democrat boss Richard Kemp said: "Spending £140,000 on a consultation and going for the third option of the three, shows the contempt the Labour Party has for the feelings of the people of Liverpool." Cllr Anna Rothery, leader of the newly formed Liverpool Independents group slammed the "abysmal" consultation as a "complete and utter waste of money."
Labour fighting back
The ruling party didn't take the criticism lying down. Things got particularly heated when an animated Cllr Harry Doyle hit out at all the city's opposition groups. The cabinet member accused rivals of being 'weak and lazy' and said the committee system, favoured by the Lib Dems, Greens and independents, wouldn't work because the opposition parties were not 'fit for purpose.'
Chief Ex-ecutive
The bad tempered debates and the ultimate historic decision about changing Liverpool's future tonight came against a backdrop of major problems at the city council. There is an ongoing government intervention at the troubled authority and this week things took another dramatic turn as the council's chief executive, Tony Reeves, resigned with immediate effect.
Mr Reeves would normally be sat at the top table at an important council meeting like the one tonight, but of course he was not. Speaking about the outgoing Mr Reeves at the meeting, Mayor Anderson said: "Tony helped the council to navigate through a period of 'significant transition', but that now was the right time for him to move out.
Forced out?
Sticking with the departure of Mr Reeves and there were some intriguing claims made about his decision to quit. Lib Dem boss Richard Kemp, who had a good relationship with the former chief executive, said he believed he did not want to leave and was 'forced out by the diktat' of the government commissioners, something he labelled as 'disgraceful.' It is widely assumed that the relationship between the commissioners and Mr Reeves had completely broken down.
Cost of living crisis
Away from the mayoral machinations and there were some important subjects discussed at tonight's meeting. Mayor Anderson led a motion discussing the severe cost of living crisis that is impacting Liverpool residents so badly at present.
Her motion noted that the rate of inflation has reached a 40-year-high, while wages have stagnated, with the average person losing £1,000 in real terms in 2022. On the energy crisis she will point out that the lifting of the energy cap in April was estimated to double the number of English households in fuel poverty. In Liverpool, 18% of households are in fuel poverty, significantly higher than the national average.
Renting discrimination
Another important issue discussed tonight came from cabinet member Sarah Doyle in conjunction with the Acorn community union. The motion called for an end to discrimination of people on housing benefit by landlords. Research by Acorn found that discrimination, that upto 80% of rental listings in Merseyside on OpenRent excluded those on such benefits. The council backed the motion and will now work to try and end such practices.
Freedom for Jurgen and Sue
There was a more positive note amongst the brickbats and fallouts tonight. The honour of Freedom of Liverpool was bestowed upon both Liverpool FC manager Jurgen Klopp and actor Sue Johnston.
Speaking about the Reds boss, Mayor Anderson praised him for always sticking up for the city and showing socialist values, while she described Royle Family star Ms Johnston as "a legend."
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