We elect one every four years, yet few of us could say what the job actually involves. Here is the metro mayor, minus the jargon.
First off, lets get this straight – Liverpool has three kinds of “mayors” and they are not the same. The Lord Mayor (who you’ve probably never heard of) is a ceremonial figure who wears a big chain, opens things (cuts the big red ribbon) and represents the city for a single year at a time (currently Councillor William Shortall). The leader of Liverpool City Council, Liam Robinson, runs the council that looks after local affairs and services. The Liverpool metro mayor is a third, newer role entirely, and it stretches well beyond the city itself.
What the Liverpool metro mayor is
The metro mayor leads the Liverpool City Region, which includes six boroughs: Liverpool, Halton, Knowsley, Sefton, St Helens and Wirral, not just the city. The post was created by a 2015 devolution deal and the Cities and Local Government Devolution Act 2016, with the first election held in 2017. Steve Rotheram has held it ever since, re-elected in 2021 and again in 2024, with the next election due in 2028. The mayor chairs the combined authority, sitting alongside the six council leaders, and is paid a salary of around £96,000.
What it actually controls
The thing is, our metro mayor isn’t actually in control of anything – not in a dictatorial sense. The metro mayor is the chair of a partnership between our six boroughs – the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority (what a mouthful). The metro mayor creates and co-ordinate plans for public transport, adult education, housing, regeneration, and other long term projects.
The real power comes through agreement. 2/3rds of the LCRCA (I’m absolutely not saying that mouthful again) must agree to any plans before commitment. An individual borough is also sovereign over their own borough and can technically just say “Nope, I’m outy”.
The metro mayor governs by building consensus, not by simply issuing orders.
What it does not control
The real local stuff. Bins. Council tax. That sort of thing. It’s also worth noting that policing isn’t really part of the metro mayor’s job either; that sits with a separately elected Merseyside Police and Crime Commissioner. The metro mayor is a strategic, region-wide role, not the person to ring about a missed collection.
And it is growing
The office has been gaining power rather than shedding it. In March 2024 the region was granted deeper, “Level 4” devolution, and from 2026 it joins the small group of areas with an integrated settlement: a single pot of government funding the mayor can move between local priorities, instead of dozens of separate grants arriving from Whitehall with strings attached. In plain terms, more of the decisions about how the region’s money gets spent are being made here rather than in London.
So that is the short version. A regional job, focused on transport, skills, housing and growth across six boroughs, distinct from the council that runs your street and the Lord Mayor who cuts the ribbons. Whether it should have more power, or less, is an argument worth having, but it is one worth having once you know what the role already does.