Mayor’s politics for the people
THE Metro Mayor of the Liverpool City Region has announced that he will be making politics accessible to his constituents in the new year.
Steve Rotheram, Metro Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, will hold a series of informal public meetings as a way of bringing politics to the people of the region in 2019.
The new series of ‘Speak To Steve’ events will be held across the city region with the aim of reaching people where they might not expect to have the chance to question a senior politician – from work canteens, doctor’s surgeries, libraries, schools and even the local pub.
Mr Rotheram said: “Too often people tell me that they feel disconnected from politics and the decisions that affect their lives.
“I left Westminster because I wanted to do politics differently and this is just one way I want to make people feel like they have a real input in the future of their community.
“One of the most exciting things for me is to have the chance to talk about the difference devolution is making for our area and what we’ve already delivered in a relatively short amount of time.
“My experience since I was elected is that even if people are initially confused as to what exactly devolution is all about, the more they hear about what we are doing the more they like the sound of it.
“Whether it’s half-price apprenticeship bus travel, new publicly-owned trains for the Merseyrail network, or £500m for new investment in our city region, we have a lot to be proud of.”
Since his election in May 2017, Mr Rotheram has held regular question time events in the six local authorities of the Liverpool city region, with hundreds turning out to put their questions to him.
But the Metro Mayor is hoping that the new series of events will help him reach people who might not ordinarily have their say when it comes to the issues that affect them most.
He added: “I am really looking forward to these events as they are about going back to doing politics in its purest form, at a grassroots level.
“There is so much going on right now – whether it’s Brexit, climate change or funding for public services – it will be interesting to see what people want to talk about.
“There will be a few surprises in terms of where we are holding the events but sometimes as a politician you have to take a risk and put yourself out there.”
The Metro Mayor will join workers from Jaguar Land Rover in the staff canteen in Halewood for the first Speak to Steve event of the new year.