Candidates for the election of Mayor for the Liverpool City Region on 4th May 2017
The countdown has started for the Liverpool City Region to vote for its first ever Liverpool City Region Mayor. The election of Mayor for the Liverpool City Region Combined Aurthority is on Thursday 4th May. You can vote at a Polling Station between 7am and 10pm that day.
All residents across the Liverpool City Region (Sefton, Halton, Knowsley, Liverpool, St Helens and Wirral) over the age of 18 are invited to elect a new Mayor for the Liverpool City Region.
The Liverpool City Region Mayor will work alongside the six local councils to improve the economy of the area, bring in new investment, improve transport, strategic housing as well as creating more jobs.
Having a Liverpool City Region Mayor was a condition of the Devolution Agreement secured with the Government, which as well as devolving decision making on key issues, it also secured £900m of additional funding for the Liverpool City Region over the next 30 years.
This is your opportunity to influence who will make major decisions about the Liverpool City Region.
Having the ability to control budgets and decisions at a local level means that they are aligned to the needs of our residents, business and region.
The Devolution Agreement enables the transfer of significant powers for economic development, transport, strategic housing and planning and employment and skills which will positively impact on the lives of all of our residents and businesses.
The Liverpool City Region Mayor will initially be for a period of three years, with a further election being held in 2020.
The full list of candidates are listed below but, if you want to find out more about them, information is now available on www.liverpoolcityregionelects.org and in the Statement of Persons Nominated document. In addition, every household across the Liverpool City Region will be receiving a Mayoral booklet before the end of April 2017, which gives further information about the Elections process and each candidate.
To find out more about the Liverpool City Region Mayoral Elections, visit www.liverpoolcityregion-ca.gov.uk/election
Make sure your vote counts on 4 May 2017!
CANDIDATES:
Roger Bannister, Trade Union & Socialist Coalition
Mr Bannister stood for Liverpool city mayor last year.
Veteran trade unionist Roger Bannister believes the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority should never have approved the contract for a fleet of new driver-only Merseyrail trains. He says he would seek to reverse this decision. He also believes local authorities have passed harmful austerity budgets on people struggling to make ends meet. He stood for Liverpool city mayor in 2016, coming fourth with 5% of the vote. Photo credit: The BBC
Paul Breen, Get the Coppers off the Jury (No photo available)
Paul Breen is a resident of Norris Green, Liverpool and became the last candidate to be nominated. He is listed as treasurer of the party on the Electoral Commission's website, with Patricia Breen listed as deputy treasurer. He has not yet released any material detailing his manifesto but said the title of his campaign speaks for itself. He simply does not believe that police officers should be allowed to serve on juries.
Tony Caldeira, Conservative
Mr Caldeira wants better transport for the region.
Born in Liverpool and educated in St Helens, Tony Caldeira started out working on a stall selling cushions made by his mother at Liverpool's Great Homer Street market. His business expanded and now operates in Kirkby, distributing world-wide. Mr Caldeira has stood for Liverpool mayor twice, coming sixth in 2016 with just under 4% of the vote. He has pledged to improve the area's transport network, speed up the planning process and build homes and workplaces on brownfield sites rather than green spaces.
Carl Cashman, Liberal Democrats
Mr Cashman is the youngest of the candidates, aged 25.
Born in Whiston, Knowsley, Carl Cashman is leader of the Liberal Democrat group on Knowsley Council. He and his two Lib Dem council colleagues were elected in 2016, breaking a four-year period when Labour was the only party represented. Aged 25, he's the youngest of the candidates. Mr Cashman believes maintaining strong ties with Europe and the region will be key, and has pledged to open a Liverpool City Region embassy in Brussels. He also wants to better integrate ticketing across public transport and make the current Walrus card more similar to the Oyster card used by Londoners.
Tom Crone, Green Party
Mr Crone wants to prioritise new routes for cyclists and pedestrians.
Tom Crone is leader of the Green group on Liverpool City Council. He won 10% of the vote in the mayoral elections in Liverpool in 2016 and came third. Originally from Norwich, he has lived in Liverpool since 2000 after arriving as a student. Mr Crone is keen to see a shift away from traditional heavy industry in the city region towards greener "tech" industries. He's also passionate about making public transport more affordable and environmentally friendly. He says he'll look to prioritise new routes for cyclists and pedestrians.
Tabitha Morton, Women's Equality Party
Ms Morton wants more equality for working women
Tabitha Morton was born in Netherton, Sefton. She left school with no formal qualifications, and started work at 16 at a local market, and later in cleaning. She was taken on for NVQ training by a company in Liverpool, and stayed on to train others. She now works for a global manufacturer, in what she describes as "a male-dominated industry". She says she would prioritise grants for employers offering equal apprenticeships for young women and men and ring-fence funds for training women in sectors in which they're underrepresented.
Steve Rotheram, Labour
Mr Rotheram has pledged to improve education
Born in Kirkby, former bricklayer Steve Rotheram was a city councillor in Liverpool and also Lord Mayor during the city's European Capital of Culture year in 2008. He was also elected MP for Liverpool Walton in 2010, and re-elected to the seat in 2015. Mr Rotheram is pledging to cut the cost of the fast tag for motorists driving through the Mersey tunnels. He wants to improve education and offer better careers advice for young people, and also wants to make brownfield sites more attractive to developers.
Paula Walters, UKIP
Ms Walters is chairman of UKIP in Wirral
Wallasey-born Paula Walters is chairman of UKIP in Wirral and lives in New Brighton with her family. She has campaigned to scrap tunnel tolls for several years. She says her local UKIP branch is one of the most thriving in the North West. A civil servant, she studied English and bio-molecular science at degree-level. She has also lived in South Africa where she attended the University of Pretoria. She believes Liverpool city centre has attracted money at the expense of outlying areas, one of the things she wants to tackle.
