Liverpool City Council elections will be held every four years from 2023. 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. New ward boundaries are being prepared to take effect from the 2023 election.
Liverpool City Council has existed since 1880, when Liverpool was awarded city status. Prior to this date the local authority was a town council.
Political control
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. 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:
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. Political control of the city council whilst it was a county borough was held by the following parties:
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:
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
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
Directly elected mayors
‡ Joe Anderson was 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.
Metropolitan Borough leaders
Council elections
Elections following the grant of city status to Liverpool on 12 May 1880:
