Liverpool_Borough_Council_elections
Liverpool City Council elections will be held every four years from 2023.[1] Between 1973 and 2021 elections were generally held three years out of every four, with a third of the council being elected each time. Liverpool City Council is the local authority for the metropolitan borough of Liverpool in Merseyside, England. Since the last boundary changes in 2004, 90 councillors have been elected from 30 wards.[2] New ward boundaries are being prepared to take effect from the 2023 election.[3]
Liverpool City Council has existed since 1880, when Liverpool was awarded city status. Prior to this date the local authority was a town council.
Municipal Borough 1835-1889
Prior to 1835, Liverpool was an ancient borough, with its council appointed under the terms of various charters dating back to 1207. Under the Municipal Corporations Act 1835, boroughs across the country were standardised to become municipal boroughs governed by a corporation, also called the town council.[4] Elections were held every year for one third of the council and the term of office for councillors was three years. The municipal borough of Liverpool also held city status from 1880, allowing the corporation to call itself Liverpool City Council. Political control of the municipal borough was held by the following parties:
| Party in control | Years | |
|---|---|---|
| Whig | 1835–1841 | |
| Conservative | 1841–1889 | |
County Borough 1889-1973
When elected county councils were established in 1889, Liverpool was made a county borough (whilst retaining its city status), making it administratively independent from Lancashire County Council, although the city remained part of Lancashire for ceremonial purposes.[5] Political control of the city council whilst it was a county borough was held by the following parties:
| Party in control | Years | |
|---|---|---|
| Conservative | 1889–1892 | |
| Liberal | 1892–1895 | |
| Conservative | 1895–1955 | |
| No overall control | 1955–1956 | |
| Labour | 1956–1962 | |
| Conservative | 1962–1963 | |
| Labour | 1963–1967 | |
| Conservative | 1967–1971 | |
| No overall control | 1971–1972 | |
| Labour | 1972–1974 | |
Metropolitan Borough 1973-
Liverpool became a metropolitan borough (with city status) under the Local Government Act 1972 and was transferred to the new metropolitan county of Merseyside, with Merseyside County Council providing county-level services. The first elections to the reformed city council were held in 1973. The first elections to Merseyside County Council were held in 1973, initially operating as a shadow authority before the revised arrangements took effect on 1 April 1974. Merseyside County Council was abolished in 1986 and Liverpool became a unitary authority. Political control of the council since 1974 has been held by the following parties:[6][7][8]
| Party in control | Years | |
|---|---|---|
| No overall control | 1974–1983 | |
| Labour | 1983–1992 | |
| No overall control | 1992–1996 | |
| Labour | 1996–1998 | |
| Liberal Democrats | 1998–2010 | |
| Labour | 2010–present | |
Leadership
Council meetings are chaired by the Lord Mayor of Liverpool, a post which is largely ceremonial. Political leadership on the city council since 2012 has been provided by the similarly named but separate role of the directly elected Mayor of Liverpool. Prior to 2012, political leadership was provided by the leader of the council. The city council has voted to abolish the directly elected mayor position at the end of the current mayor's term of office in 2023 and return to having a leader of the council.
The leaders of the council from 1918 to 2012 were:
County Borough leaders
| Councillor | Party | From | To | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Charles Petrie[9] | Conservative | 4 Nov 1918 | ||
| Archibald Salvidge[10] | Conservative | 18 Nov 1918 | 11 Dec 1928 | |
| Thomas White[11][12] | Conservative | 7 Jan 1929 | 25 Jan 1938 | |
| Alfred Shennan | Conservative | 1938 | 1955 | |
| Jack Braddock | Labour | 1955 | 1961 | |
| Maxwell Entwistle | Conservative | 1961 | 1963 | |
| Jack Braddock | Labour | May 1963 | Nov 1963 | |
| Bill Sefton | Labour | 1963 | 1967 | |
| Harold Steward | Conservative | 1967 | 1972 | |
| Bill Sefton | Labour | 1972 | 31 Mar 1974 | |
The last leader of the council before the 1974 reforms, Bill Sefton, went on to be the first leader of Merseyside County Council.
Metropolitan Borough leaders
| Councillor | Party | From | To | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cyril Carr | Liberal | 1 Apr 1974 | 1975 | |
| Bill Smythe | Liberal | 1975 | 1976 | |
| John Hamilton | Labour | 1976 | 1978 | |
| Trevor Jones | Liberal | 1978 | 1983 | |
| John Hamilton | Labour | 1983 | Nov 1986 | |
| Tony Byrne[13] | Labour | Nov 1986 | Mar 1987 | |
| Trevor Jones | Liberal | Mar 1987 | May 1987 | |
| Harry Rimmer | Labour | May 1987 | Oct 1987 | |
| Keva Coombes | Labour | 1987 | 1990 | |
| Harry Rimmer | Labour | 1990 | 1996 | |
| Frank Prendergast | Labour | 1996 | 1998 | |
| Mike Storey | Liberal Democrats | May 1998 | 25 Nov 2005 | |
| Warren Bradley | Liberal Democrats | Dec 2005 | May 2010 | |
| Joe Anderson | Labour | May 2010 | 6 May 2012 | |
Directly elected mayors
| Councillor | Party | From | To | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Joe Anderson‡ | Labour | 7 May 2012 | Dec 2020 | |
| Independent | Dec 2020 | 9 May 2021 | ||
| Joanne Anderson | Labour | 10 May 2021 | 4 May 2023 | |
‡ Joe Anderson was arrested and subsequently suspended from the Labour Party and stood aside from his mayoral role in December 2020. He remained nominally the mayor until the end of his term of office in May 2021, but the deputy mayor, Wendy Simon, served as acting mayor during that period.[14]
Metropolitan Borough leaders
| Councillor | Party | From | To | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liam Robinson | Labour | 4 May 2023 | Incumbent | |
Elections following the grant of city status to Liverpool on 12 May 1880:
Municipal Borough
County Borough
- 1889
- 1890
- 1891
- 1892
- 1893
- 1894
- 1895
- 1896
- 1897
- 1898
- 1899
- 1900
- 1901
- 1902
- 1903
- 1904
- 1905
- 1906
- 1907
- 1908
- 1909
- 1910
- 1911
- 1912
- 1913
- 1914
- 1918
- 1919
- 1920
- 1921
- 1922
- 1923
- 1924
- 1925
- 1926
- 1927
- 1928
- 1929
- 1930
- 1931
- 1932
- 1933
- 1934
- 1935
- 1936
- 1937
- 1938
- 1945
- 1946
- 1947
- 1949
- 1950
- 1951
- 1952
- 1953
- 1954
- 1955
- 1956
- 1957
- 1958
- 1959
- 1960
- 1961
- 1962
- 1963
- 1964
- 1965
- 1966
- 1967
- 1968
- 1969
- 1970
- 1971
- 1972
Metropolitan Borough
- 1973 Boundary changes reduce the number of wards from 40 to 33, aldermen abolished.[15]
- 1975
- 1976
- 1978
- 1979
- 1980 Whole council elected after boundary changes[16]
- 1982
- 1983
- 1984
- 1986
- 1987
- 1988
- 1990
- 1991
- 1992
- 1994
- 1995
- 1996
- 1998
- 1999
- 2000
- 2002
- 2003
- 2004 Boundary changes reduce the number of seats by 9 to 90[17][2]
- 2006
- 2007
- 2008
- 2010
- 2011
- 2012
- 2014
- 2015
- 2016
- 2018
- 2019
- 2021 (postponed from 2020 due to COVID-19 pandemic)
- 2023 Abolition of Elected Mayor. Boundary changes establish 3 three member ward, 15 two member wards and 46 single member wards, reducing the number of councillors from 90 to 85 with all-up elections every four years.
- Liverpool
- Liverpool City Council
- Liverpool Town Council elections 1835 - 1879
- Liverpool School Board elections 1870–1900
- Directly elected mayor of Liverpool - 2012–2023
- Merseyside County Council 1974–1986
- Mayors and Lord Mayors of Liverpool 1207 to present
- List of electoral wards in Merseyside
- "The City of Liverpool (Scheme of Elections and Elections of Elected Mayor) Order 2021", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, SI 2021/1089, retrieved 29 August 2022
- "The City of Liverpool (Electoral Changes) Order 2003", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, SI 2003/2505, retrieved 29 August 2022
- "Liverpool Electoral Review". Local Government Boundary Commission for England. Retrieved 29 August 2022.
- "Liverpool Municipal Borough / County Borough". A Vision of Britain through Time. GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth. Retrieved 29 August 2022.
- "Local Government Act 1888", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, 1888 c. 41, retrieved 29 August 2022
- "Compositions calculator". The Elections Centre. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
- "Liverpool". BBC News Online. 19 April 2009. Retrieved 7 May 2010.
- "Defection confusion in Liverpool". BBC News Online. 2 May 2008. Retrieved 17 February 2010.
- "Sir C. Petrie: A surprise resignation from city council". Liverpool Echo. 4 November 1918. p. 3. Retrieved 29 August 2022.
- "Sir Archibald Savidge elected Tory leader in the city council today". Liverpool Echo. 18 November 1918. p. 3. Retrieved 29 August 2022.
- "Sir T. White elected council leader: Unanimity at today's meeting". Liverpool Echo. 7 January 1929. p. 9. Retrieved 29 August 2022.
- "The passing of Sir Thomas White". Liverpool Echo. 25 January 1938. Retrieved 29 August 2022.
- "We'll tame rebels yet". Liverpool Echo. 21 November 1986. Retrieved 29 August 2022.
- Thorp, Liam (10 December 2020). "Who is Wendy Simon? The woman stepping in to run Liverpool as interim leader after Joe Anderson stands aside". Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
- Jeffery, David (1 August 2017). "The strange death of Tory Liverpool: Conservative electoral decline in Liverpool, 1945–1996". British Politics. 12 (3): 386–407. doi:10.1057/s41293-016-0032-6. ISSN 1746-9198.
- The City of Liverpool (Electoral Arrangements) Order 1979, SI 1979/1411
- "Liverpool council". BBC News Online. Retrieved 17 February 2010.