Liverpool councillors vote to scrap elected mayor model

The role of elected mayor will be removed in Liverpool after a vote from councillors - with a council leader and cabinet put in place instead.

The move was approved by the council, after the ruling Labour group voted to approve the new model by a majority of 51 to 18.

The current role will be scrapped in May 2023.

As well as having an elected city mayor, Liverpool also has a Lord Mayor and Metro Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, Steve Rotheram.

The current Mayor of Liverpool, Joanne Anderson, had promised to hold a referendum on whether to scrap the role of mayor or not when she campaigned to replace Joe Anderson.

Joe Anderson did not stand for re-election in 2021 after his arrest as part of a fraud investigation.

But, instead of a referendum the Mayor of Liverpool and the council chose to hold a cheaper public consultation instead.

Only 4% of the electorate voted, but 40.9% wanted to keep the role of mayor, 32.9% preferred a committee model and 23.6% opted for council leader.

At the meeting Liberal councillor Steve Radford said: "The logic of having a consultation and then (opting) for the least popular option on a poor turnout is, I think, just taking the total mickey out of the electorate."

The authority is currently being partially overseen by Government-appointed commissioners after an inspection report last year found allegations of bullying, intimidation, "dubious" deals and "jobs for the boys".

The inspection, by Max Caller, followed the arrest of Mr Anderson and others on suspicion of fraud, bribery, corruption and witness intimidation.