Liverpool Labour defends mayor role poll after turnout criticism

The leader of the city's Liberal Democrat opposition group said the consultation was "flawed"

A senior Liverpool Labour councillor has defended a consultation on how the city council should be run, after just 3% of residents responded to it.

The consultation was 40% in favour of keeping the current directly-elected mayoral model.

The ruling Labour group has pledged to push ahead with its preference for a leader and cabinet model, despite it being the least preferred option.

Councillor Paul Brant said it tried to "identify the consensus way forward".

Green Party leader Tom Crone said the consultation process was "botched and absolutely mishandled".

But Mr Brant, the assistant mayor for finance, said: "The reality is people are less concerned about the system of governance, they're more concerned the system works to deliver the right decisions for people."

'Mixed picture'

About a third of respondents said they preferred a committee system, while 23.6% opted for a cabinet-style way of working.

"This isn't a first past the post vote, this was a consultation exercise to try and determine the consensus view of the people of Liverpool," he said.

"The result hasn't delivered a clear majority on any of the individual set of options, and came back with a mixed picture," Mr Brant said.

"We've done our best to try and identify the consensus way forward, which is the option we're proposing to the council."

Mr Brant said, during campaigning in a recent by-election, nobody had raised the issue.

"People are very concerned about fly-tipping, about rubbish, about the condition of their streets, about protecting library and children's centres, but not once were they raising with me issues about the way the internal governance of Liverpool City Council operates."

Referendum call

Richard Kemp, leader of the city's Liberal Democrat opposition group, said the low number of responses showed the process "was flawed from the start."

He said the letter "looked like a final demand" with "no explanation of the options".

The former independent mayoral candidate, Liam Fogarty, said, "the idea councillors will force through the least popular option is an affront to democracy and an insult to the people of Liverpool."

Former mayoral candidate Stephen Yip is calling for a formal referendum

Mr Fogarty has set up a campaign group, ReSet Liverpool, with another former mayoral candidate Stephen Yip, and the pair have started a petition, calling for a referendum on whether the city should keep or scrap the role of elected mayor.

It needs at least 15,000 signatures to trigger a vote.

Mr Brant defended the council's own consultation exercise. "We did it to enable everybody in the city to... take part if they wanted."

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