Liverpool is expected to abolish the position of elected mayor of the city later this month after the results of a public consultation were revealed.
The city council has been asking people for their views on how the city should be governed going forward and whether the position of directly elected mayor should be removed after it was brought in 10 years ago. The council and its current mayor Joanne Anderson have been criticised for not holding a full referendum on the matter having previously pledged to do so.
The council has now revealed the results and it is a mixed picture. Only around 4% of the city's population took part in the consultation and of that number, around 41% (4,709 respondents) said they would like to stick with the elected mayoral position. While the mayoral model came out on top of the three individual options offered, the result does mean a majority of those responding opted to remove the position, but within that group there was a split between possible governance options.
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Coming out on top was the committee system, with 3,793 votes (32.9%). This is a form of governance where the council establishes a number of committees, each with specific areas of responsibility. It is a system that the main Lib Dem opposition group have campaigned for and say should now be brought in based on these results.
The committee system beat the more widely used leader and cabinet model, which garnered just 2,721 (23.6%). This was the model in place before Liverpool brought in the mayoral system. Under this system, the leader of the largest political group of councillors becomes the council leader and appoints cabinet members for specific departments.
Despite the leader and cabinet model coming bottom of the three options available in the public consultation, the ruling Labour group has announced that it intends to vote to implement this system at a deciding council meeting later this month. As the largest party on the council, Labour's votes will succeed in changing to the system they favour when an official vote is held at a full council meeting on July 20.
It is a move that will leave some people questioning the point of the consultation exercise. A note sent to Labour councillors by group chair Cllr Mary Rasmussen attempted to explain the group's position.
She said: "None of the three models on offer – mayor, leader with cabinet or leader with committees - had majority support, although a plurality of the responses backed the leader with cabinet or committee options.
"The second point is that this consultation process was advisory but given the response rate was equivalent to just 4% of the city’s population, we do not believe it offers a representative view of public opinion across the whole of Liverpool. All of which means that the Labour group’s position remains the same: We are committed to change and want to see a leader and cabinet model introduced."
The statement added: "The leader and cabinet model will bring us into line with most other councils across the country and is preferable to the leader and committee system – which would simply result in longer meetings, more talking and slower decisions.
"At a time when so many families in our city are struggling with the Tory cost of living crisis, the city council needs to be able to get things done quickly and effectively. A strong Labour council leader and cabinet system will allow us to be decisive and focused, but also more collaborative and transparent than the mayoral model has shown itself to be in recent years."
Lib Dem leader Cllr Richard Kemp said the results showed a 'clear preference for change.' He added: "Only 40% voted to keep the Mayoral model with 33% supporting the committee system and 23.6 % supporting the Cabinet/Leader model.
"Despite the fact that this was a deeply flawed process Liverpool’s Lib Dem Councillors will follow the lead of the people of the city and support within council a move to the Committee system which is by far the most popular of the alternatives. The process was so flawed that there were only 11,519 valid responses out of the 330,000 electors of the city plus business and other residents who could have responded."
He said a line must now be drawn under the 'mismanagement' of the past, adding: "Nothing will say that the Council is changing more than a move to the Committee System which decentralises power, opens up the dark corners of the Council and then allows full discussion of policies at an appropriate time."
Liverpool's Green Party have also campaigned to remove the mayoralty. The party criticised the decision not to hold a binding public vote.
Reacting to today's results, Green group leader Tom Crone said: ‘This is worse than useless from Labour. Just 3 per cent of people have had their say with none of the options on offer gaining over 50 per cent support.
"There is no democratic mandate for any way forward. We pressed for a full referendum that would have clarified the options, got people debating and led to a higher turnout. We now need Labour to break a habit of a lifetime and show real leadership in the face of this disastrous turnout. Bring all the parties together and let’s devise a system of governance that is democratic, accountable and transparent."
City Solicitor, Dan Fenwick, said: “The Council’s objective was to reach out to as many people in Liverpool as possible to ensure they knew about the consultation, so that they could have their say, over the future governance of Liverpool City Council.
“The results of this consultation will now be reported back to Full Council, which will make the final decision on whether to keep the mayoralty or move to a different model of governance from May 2023.”
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