Comment: Peter Kilfoyle’s ‘super-mayor’ plan needs serious debate

Nov 6 2009 by William Leece, Liverpool Daily Post

IN THE quarter of a century he has been on Merseyside, first as a Labour Party organiser and then as MP for Walton, Peter Kilfoyle has always been his own man.

He is too rugged a character to be described as establishment, but he nevertheless represents a tradition of service both to the party and the public that goes back to the very beginning of the Labour movement.

It means his opinions count. And when he backs the idea of an elected mayor not just for Liverpool but the whole city-region, possibly taking in Warrington and going over the border into North Wales, he should at least be listened to.

It is certainly a far more interesting idea than that simply of a mayor from Liverpool alone. The report he has commissioned refers to the “in-fighting, factionalism and allegations of unprofessionalism and mismanagement” that bedevil Liverpool City Council, and we would suggest that a directly-elected mayor would simply encounter more of the same.

But a mayor with a power base everywhere west of the M6 may be a different character altogether, if invested with sufficient power to apply both carrot and stick to local authorities across the area.

Given the expanding influence of the Welsh Assembly since devolution 10 years ago, we cannot see an English-based mayor taking any power in Wales, but there is certainly scope for co-operation here.

Obviously, the conclusion of one independent-minded MP is a long way from being government policy, and may be even further away if the Tories win next year’s General Election.

But Mr Kilfoyle has come up with some radical proposals, and they deserve serious debate.