Enough is Enough!

Campaigners are stepping up their bid to give the city its own US-style elected Mayor. It comes as an independent watchdog brands Liverpool City Council as the worst run the country. The Audit Commission also says the way councillors behave is holding the city back.

Independent pressure group A Mayor For Liverpool.Org is urging the people of Merseyside to sign the petition for a city-wide “People’s Poll” - the first step towards having a powerful, directly elected Mayor.

Chair of the campaign Liam Fogarty says: “Enough is enough. Liverpool people are fed up with failures and fiascos. The City Council is an embarrassment. Liverpool needs a fresh start. Thousands have already joined our independent campaign and signed the petition. With a final push we can reach the target of 17,000 names we need to trigger a referendum on having an elected Mayor.”

The former BBC journalist added: “Part-time leaders, bickering councillors and bungling bureaucrats keep letting Liverpool down. In the last six months alone we’ve seen:

 

• the Mathew Street fiasco when the event was cancelled on safety grounds just weeks before it was due to take place.
• two investigations by the ethics watchdog, the Standards Board
• the £230,000 pay-off to former Culture supremo Jason Harborow
• councillors’ conduct condemned as being “worse than in Eastern Europe”
• the City Council ranked bottom of the Audit Commission league table with a dismal one-star rating (out of four)"

 

Says Liam: “People in Liverpool are sick to death of silly plots and fat pay-offs. Add a huge budget deficit, and a long list of failed projects like Merseytram and the Fourth Grace, and it’s obvious the system is broken. But it can be fixed.”

Twelve English cities and towns have opted to put directly elected Mayors in charge of local services. They include London, Stoke, Middlesbrough and Doncaster. London, Mayor Ken Livingstone is seeking re-election in May, with Tory candidate Boris Johnson among those trying to unseat him. Liam Fogarty rejects claims that switching to a Mayor would put too much power in the hands of one person.

“With an elected Mayor, it’s the voters who have the real power. If Londoners think Ken Livingstone has done a bad job they can get rid of him in May. In Liverpool three-out-of-four people don’t vote in council elections. Most don’t even know who their local councillors are. And the council leader is chosen by his/her political allies, not by the people of the city.”

The referendum campaigners insist elected Mayors make local politics more accountable Enter our competitions Air your views Browse our reader offers Find a new love and more effective.

“We, the voters, would pick someone who could knock heads together,” says Fogarty. “Just look at the Mathew Street debacle. Nobody took charge, and nobody owned up when disaster struck. It was typical Liverpool. Having a full-time Mayor with fresh ideas and a fresh approach would revive local politics. Liverpool would have new leadership and a new start.”

You can visit the campaign website www.amayorforliverpool.org for details on how to support the referendum call and to print off a petition form.

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