2021 Liverpool City Region mayoral election

2021 Liverpool City Region mayoral election

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Turnout	29.7% (3.6%)
First party Second party   Con Candidate Steve Rotheram Jade Marsden Party Labour Conservative Popular vote 198,726 66,702 Percentage 58.3% 19.6% Swing 1.0% 0.8%   Third party Fourth party   LD Candidate Gary Cargill David Newman Party Green Liberal Democrats Popular vote 40,211 35,049 Percentage 11.8% 10.3% Swing 6.9% 3.5%
Election result by council areas
Mayor before election Steve Rotheram Labour Elected Mayor Steve Rotherham Labour

The 2021 Liverpool City Region mayoral election was held in May 2021 to elect the mayor of the Liverpool City Region, alongside other local elections across England and Wales, to elect councillors, the mayor of Liverpool, and police and crime commissioners across the city region. The election was originally due to take place in May 2020, but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. ^[1]

Background

The position of Mayor of the Liverpool City Region was created in 2017 following a devolution deal between the UK government and the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority (LCRCA). The Cities and Local Government Devolution Act 2016 required a directly elected metro mayor for combined authorities to receive additional powers from central government. ^[2] Under the terms of the devolution deal, the first mayoral term was set to last until 2020, followed by elections every four years. ^[3] The Liverpool City Region is defined as having six boroughs which includes the county of Merseyside (Knowsley, Liverpool, St Helens, Sefton, and Wirral) and the Borough of Halton.

In March 2019, Rotheram requested that the police and crime commissioner role for the Merseyside Police be incorporated into the role of the mayor of the Liverpool City Region. The request is in line with the powers the Greater Manchester and London mayors, who have authority and oversight over Greater Manchester Police and the Metropolitan Police Service, respectively. ^[4] This was supported by the leader of Knowsley Borough Council. ^[5] This would require the expansion of Merseyside Police to cover the Borough of Halton, which is in the boundaries of Cheshire Constabulary. ^[4] However, this did not happen.

Candidates

Conservative Party

Jade Marsden was selected as candidate for the Conservative Party. Marsden was previously the parliamentary candidate for both the Bootle and Sefton Central constituencies. ^[6]

Labour Party

The incumbent mayor, Steve Rotheram, was reselected as candidate for the Labour Party in August 2019 after receiving enough support from local Constituency Labour Parties. ^[7]

In January 2020, before the COVID-19 pandemic affected the United Kingdom, mayor Rotheram made it a core pledge of his re-election campaign that he would "guarantee a job, training or an apprenticeship opportunity to every young person within six months of them becoming unemployed". ^{[8] [9]}

Liberal Democrats

Andy Corkhill, councillor for Oxton, Wirral was originally selected as the Liberal Democrat candidate, but later withdrew because of health reasons so David Newman was selected to stand as the Lib Dem candidate. ^[10] Andy Corkhill died in October 2021. ^{[10] [11] [12] [13]} Newman lives in Southport and stood in Liverpool Walton at the 2019 general election.

Green Party

The Green Party candidate for Metro Mayor is Gary Cargill, ^[14] an actor who has appeared in several hit TV programmes and Hollywood films. ^[15]

Results

Liverpool City Region Mayor 6 May 2021 [16]
Party		Candidate	1st round		2nd round			1st round votesTransfer votes, 2nd round
			Total	Of round	Transfers	Total	Of round
	Labour	Steven Rotheram	198,736	58.33%				​​
	Conservative	Jade Marsden	66,702	19.58%				​​
	Green	Gary Cargill	40,211	11.80%				​​
	Liberal Democrats	David Newman	35,049	10.29%				​​
Turnout			340,698	29.7%
	Labour hold

Results by Local Authority

Halton

Liverpool City Region Mayoral Election 2021, Halton
Party		Candidate	1st round		2nd round			1st round votesTransfer votes, 2nd round
			Total	Of round	Transfers	Total	Of round
	Labour	Steven Rotheram	12,642	55.57%				​​
	Conservative	Jade Marsden	5,529	24.31%				​​
	Green	Gary Cargill	3,129	13.76%				​​
	Liberal Democrats	David Newman	1,448	6.37%				​​

Knowsley

Liverpool City Region Mayoral Election 2021, Knowsley
Party		Candidate	1st round		2nd round			1st round votesTransfer votes, 2nd round
			Total	Of round	Transfers	Total	Of round
	Labour	Steven Rotheram	19,504	68.19%				​​
	Green	Gary Cargill	4,467	15.62%				​​
	Conservative	Jade Marsden	2,861	10.00%				​​
	Liberal Democrats	David Newman	1,770	6.19%				​​

Liverpool

Liverpool City Region Mayoral Election 2021, Liverpool
Party		Candidate	1st round		2nd round			1st round votesTransfer votes, 2nd round
			Total	Of round	Transfers	Total	Of round
	Labour	Steven Rotheram	65,955	65.85%				​​
	Liberal Democrats	David Newman	15,577	15.55%				​​
	Green	Gary Cargill	11,459	11.44%				​​
	Conservative	Jade Marsden	7,176	7.16%				​​

Sefton

Liverpool City Region Mayoral Election 2021, Sefton
Party		Candidate	1st round		2nd round			1st round votesTransfer votes, 2nd round
			Total	Of round	Transfers	Total	Of round
	Labour	Steven Rotheram	36,967	55.01%				​​
	Conservative	Jade Marsden	16,920	25.18%				​​
	Liberal Democrats	David Newman	7,938	11.81%				​​
	Green	Gary Cargill	5,379	8.00%				​​

St Helens

Liverpool City Region Mayoral Election 2021, St Helens
Party		Candidate	1st round		2nd round			1st round votesTransfer votes, 2nd round
			Total	Of round	Transfers	Total	Of round
	Labour	Steven Rotheram	19,622	51.95%				​​
	Conservative	Jade Marsden	9,402	24.89%				​​
	Green	Gary Cargill	5,997	15.88%				​​
	Liberal Democrats	David Newman	2,749	7.28%				​​

Wirral

Liverpool City Region Mayoral Election 2021, Wirral
Party		Candidate	1st round		2nd round			1st round votesTransfer votes, 2nd round
			Total	Of round	Transfers	Total	Of round
	Labour	Steven Rotheram	44,046	52.31%				​​
	Conservative	Jade Marsden	24,814	29.47%				​​
	Green	Gary Cargill	9,780	11.61%				​​
	Liberal Democrats	David Newman	5,567	6.61%				​​

See also

• 2021 Liverpool City Council election
• 2021 Mayor of Liverpool election
• 2021 Merseyside police and crime commissioner election
• 2021 Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council election

References

1. "Local elections postponed for a year over coronavirus". BBC News. 13 March 2020. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
2. "Everything you need to know about metro mayors: an FAQ". Centre for Cities. 27 June 2016.
3. Walker, Jonathan (19 July 2016). "West Midlands mayor to be elected on May 4 2017". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 23 August 2017.
4. Liam Thorp (22 March 2019). "Steve Rotheram: 'Scrap Police Commissioner and give me the job'". Liverpool Echo . Retrieved 15 April 2019.
5. Nick Tyrrell (21 March 2019). "Knowsley Council leader backs getting rid of separate police and crime commissioner role after latest resignation". Liverpool Echo . Retrieved 15 April 2019.
6. "Jade Marsden - Conservative candidate for Liverpool City Region Mayoral Election 2021".
7. Thorp, Liam (1 August 2019). "Steve Rotheram selected by Labour to fight for second term as Metro Mayor". Liverpool Echo . Retrieved 3 February 2020.
8. Rotheram, Steve. "Steve Rotheram: I'll build a city region where no one is left behind". LabourList . Retrieved 15 September 2020.
9. Bunn, Jon (4 May 2020). "Impatience, frustration and funding: Rotheram on his first term". Local Government Chronicle (LGC). Retrieved 15 September 2020.
10. "Southport's David Newman selected as Liberal Democrat candidate for Metro Mayor". 22 March 2021.
11. "Councillor details - Councillor Andy Corkhill". democracy.wirral.gov.uk. 8 February 2021. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
12. "Andy Corkhill selected by Lib Dems for Liverpool City Region Mayor". Mark Pack. 22 February 2020. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
13. "David Newman".
14. "2021 Elections". Liverpool Green Party. Archived from the original on 24 November 2020. Retrieved 23 November 2020.
15. "Gary Cargill screen credits". IMDB.com. IMDB. 26 January 2021. Archived from the original on 22 February 2005. Retrieved 26 January 2021.
16. "Mayor of the Liverpool City Region". BBC News. Retrieved 13 May 2021.