New Liverpool City Council leader promises hard work, not fireworks

Councillor Liam Robinson said it was "the privilege of his life" to take on the job

Liverpool's new council leader has promised "hard work, not fireworks" as he took control of the authority.

The city council has ditched the role of directly elected mayor and brought back a leader and cabinet making decisions.

Councillor Liam Robinson officially took on the role at a meeting of the Labour-led authority on Wednesday.

He said it was "the privilege of his life" to take on the job.

Council leaders are usually the leader of the largest party in the authority, and are selected by their political group, while elected mayors are voted for directly by the public.

There has been a mayor in Liverpool since 2012 and the position has been held by two unrelated people with the bizarrely similar names, Joe Anderson and Joanne Anderson.

Ms Anderson, who was elected in 2021, described her two years in office as "the most challenging period" of her life.

She said there were "things we could have done differently", but added: "I am confident that I have left the council in a much better position that I inherited it and have laid the foundations for further progress in the years ahead."

'Most professional'

Listing her achievements in a farewell letter to Liverpool, she said she was "so proud of every person in this city for their consistent passion for social justice, which has shone through time and again over the last two years".

She said that was shown in "the way our communities came together following the horrific terrorist attack at the Women's Hospital; the heartwarming response to the Liverpool Loves You event challenging homophobia; the success of the Liverpool Against Racism Festival; and of course, the city-wide solidarity with Ukraine as part of the Eurovision events."

Her tenure has run alongside government intervention in the council, as commissioners were appointed to oversee several departments following the publication of a damning report two months before she was elected in 2021.

Council meetings in Liverpool are often fractious and bad-tempered, but taking up his post, Mr Robinson appeared to signal an end to that type of adversarial politics.

He said it would be a case of "hard work, not fireworks" in future and his cabinet would be the "most professional" the city had ever seen.

The new leader of the city's opposition Liberal Democrats, Carl Cashman, said he hoped for more "consensus and co-operation" between the parties.

He said he had never been in favour of having an elected mayor, as it concentrated too much power in the hands of one person.

"When the mayoral model was first thrust on the people of Liverpool, there was no referendum, people just had to accept it," Mr Cashman said.

"I think having a leader is a slightly better model, but I think the best model is a committee system".