City Council votes yes to elected Mayor

In what is being billed as a historic moment for Liverpool, the city council voted overwhelming to have an elected Mayor. Currently the council has a leader who is elected by the councillors of the party with most seats. The directly elected Mayor will be elected directly by citizens. The vote will happen 86 days from on May 3rd 2012.

A deal between the current Labour administration and central government under the auspices of the 'city deal' meant the city could proceed directly to having a Mayor without having a referendum. The coalition government's policy is for the 8 major cities to have Mayors to provide a consistent figurehead to to city development. However, it is looking likely that the other cities will offer their citizens a choice.

At this time former BBC man Liam Fogerty and celebrity hairdresser Herbert Howe are both thought to have declared themselves as independent candidates. It is expected that Joe Anderson, the current council leader, is expected to put himself forward for the Labour ticket. It is thought that Richard Kemp is the leading contender from the LibDems. It is not known if the conservatives will field a candidate, but to be fair this would be throwing good money after bad. There's also been a strong rumour that Phil redmond may also enter the race as an independent but the former MerseyTV boss has neither confirmed or denied the suggestions. There'll no doubt be one or two curveball candidates as well. Nominations will open on March 27 and close a week later on April 4th.

The race has begin, watch this space!