Crunch vote ahead as Liverpool councillors consider their city's future

Most of the Liverpool voters who took part in a ballot over how the city should be run have stated a preference for an elected Mayor.

The result comes despite concerns over management at the council, which already has a directly elected mayor, but also has four government-appointed commissioners overseeing matters at the town hall.

The results of the survey were:

• 40.9% (4,709 votes) - a city Mayor who is directly elected by voters every four years

• 32.9% (3,793 votes) - a council led by one or more Committees made up of elected councillors

• 23.6% (2,721 votes) - a Leader who is an elected councillor, chosen by a vote of other elected councillors

• 2.5% (296 votes) - no preference stated.

The city has had a directly elected mayor since 2012 but in January, a meeting of the council voted in favour of asking the public on how it should be run.

The consultation, which was held online and via postal ballot, included a letter being sent to every household on the electoral roll in the city.

The current Liverpool Mayor, Joanne Anderson, was elected in May 2021 on a manifesto calling for the mayoral role to be scrapped.

She has since stated she will take a neutral position on the issue.

Lib Dem Leader, and leader of the opposition at Liverpool City Council, Cllr Richard Kemp, said the vote showed "a clear preference for change".

"57% of the respondents supported a change away from the mayoral model," he said.

But Cllr Kemp also labelled the process "flawed" and said turn out was too low.

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.”

The consultation details will then go to Full Council at Liverpool Town Hall on Wednesday, 20 July, to be discussed and voted upon by all of the city’s 90 councillors.

Any change in governance will take effect from the elections in May 2023, and will be binding on the Council for five years.

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