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Liverpool city councilors hope to hold an emergency vote next week to abolish the post of elected mayor of the city in protest at the fact that the Labor Party removed its list of women for office.
They are waiting to see who, if anyone, is applying to be the new candidate for a job that is now widely regarded as a poisoned chalice after the selection process was dismissed as a nicety. New nominations must be submitted by noon on Thursday and interviews are scheduled for Monday.
Two Liverpool MPs expressed surprise at Labor’s decision to reopen the process and backed calls to remove the mayor’s post.
Paula Barker, Labor MP from Liverpool Wavertree, said in a statement on Twitter, that he firmly believed that Liverpool needed a new democratic model and that the current mayor was broken. She wrote: “The concentration of executive power in one office is fundamentally unhealthy.”
Barker said it was “crucial” that the Labor Party did not underestimate the frustration and anger among its own activists over the administration’s failures, adding that this presents “a long-awaited opportunity for the party to break away from the mayor of Once for all”.
Liverpool Riverside Labor MP Kim Johnson echoed that the current situation had shown that there were “serious flaws” in the mayoral model, “where power is concentrated in one person and one office.” In a statement on TwitterHe said: “Perhaps now is the time to present a more democratic and collegiate model of government for the people of Liverpool.”
Speculation is growing that an independent candidate could win in the May elections. Frances Molloy, a road safety activist touted as a possible Labor candidate, said: “In all honesty, it would be extremely difficult to even consider or support a process that has been far from successful.”
Molloy, who won an eight-year fight last year to ban old tires on vehicles after her son was killed in a bus accident, did not rule out being independent. “The three female candidates deserved much better. The role may now be better served by an independent candidate in the future, as the political fallout and infighting would be a serious distraction from the role, ”he said.
Theresa Griffin, a former Labor MEP from the Northwest, who has also been suggested as a possible candidate for Labor mayor, said she wasn’t sure if she would.
A high-ranking woman in the Liverpool Labor Party said she “wouldn’t touch him with a boat after three strong Labor women were treated” and that the job was a poisoned chalice.
The Labor Party suspended the selection race on Tuesday and reopened applications just before ballots were sent to members.
The city’s current mayor, Anna Rothery, who has the backing of Jeremy Corbyn and the powerful Unite union, was unable to reapply. He faced two councilors: Wendy Simon, who took over as interim mayor following the arrest of incumbent Joe Anderson in December; and Ann O’Byrne, who resigned as Anderson’s assistant in 2018.
In his statement, Johnson also said he did not believe racism was at the center of the measure, following reports that Rothery is pursuing a racial profiling case if the party does not reverse the decision. Had she been elected, Rothery would have been Liverpool’s first black mayor.
Amid speculation that Rothery might run as an independent candidate, as Ken Livingstone did successfully in London, a high-ranking Labor figure said: “I think if the party turns to you and says, ‘You are unfit for public office in our eyes, ‘so why wouldn’t he be considering it? ”. It remains to be seen whether the traditional Labor city would back an independent candidate.
Fury addressed Labor headquarters from figures from all wings of the party in Liverpool, one of the remaining northern hubs. Councilman Barry Kushner, a member of the housing cabinet, said the fiasco should not reflect on the competence of those charged with running the city. “There are some serious things that we are dealing with, from the pandemic to rising unemployment, maintaining services for our children,” he said.
In January alone, Liverpool councilors voted in favor of holding a referendum in 2023 to ask Liverpool residents if they wanted to keep the post of mayor of the city or replace it with a council leader and a cabinet, a committee system or a hybrid model.
But The Guardian understands that top Labor figures in the city are now discussing calling a vote at next Wednesday’s full council meeting to remove the mayoralty before local elections in May.
They believe they would win the vote, knowing that the leading Liberal Democrats opposition councilors have long campaigned to eliminate the role. There is nothing the national Labor Party can do to stop them.
They believe they could still hold a referendum in 2023 to decide how the city should be governed in the long term.
The council is not required to consult the voters on this. The position was created in 2012 after councilors approved it, bypassing the referendum process adopted by other cities.
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