As I write I have just finished my first week as the new Leader of the Liberal Democrats on Liverpool City Council.
And what a week it’s been.
As the first female leader of a major party on the City Council (that’s first ever) I had more than my fair share of attention. I have discovered the joys of the 6 am media call and suddenly being the person everyone wants to talk to.
And the enormity of the challenges ahead has been quickly sinking in.
Here in Liverpool we have a mountain to climb.
Like many of you we saw good, hard working colleagues swept away on election night. It was absolutely not their fault that they lost and it’s hard to see what more they could have done. Voters wanted to send a message and they did.
Those of you who’ve followed goings on here will also be aware that we have had some self-inflicted wounds, wounds that may take a while to heal.
But we are determined to draw a line, get on with things and start rebuilding.
The team may be smaller (temporarily) but it’s a good one with loads of talent and drive.
When things get tough you find out whether you have guts and commitment, and we have those things in spades.
The Liberal Democrats did such great things for Liverpool. Everyone knows about Capital of Culture, which did such a lot for the City’s reputation. But we turned so many other things around too – from getting the bins collected to getting our children’s exam grades above average. We also cut domestic burglary by a massive 30 per cent with the alleygating programme. And many of you will know of the new arena and conference centre that’s bringing so many more visitors to the City.
Now in opposition we need to focus, take the fight to Labour and show that we are once again the right people to lead the City.
This isn’t meant to be a “puff piece”. I am well aware we still have problems. But I wanted to reassure my friends and colleagues in the Lib Dems up and down the country that we are getting on with it. Together we will win.
Cllr Paula Keaveney is the Leader of the Liberal Democrats on Liverpool City Council
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10 Comments
Great you have taken on this role and good luck!
Great start Paula
What do you intend to do about the Liberal party question?
They did us no favours in Wavertree.
good luck! let’s hope you don’t have any cllrs defect to the labour party, like that experienced in wirral last night…
Cllr Keaveney,
Greetings from the Wirral side of the water. When I was president of the Lib Dem Society at Liverpool University (now Liverpool Liberal Youth) from 2007-2008 we helped out with the local election campaign, whether delivering leaflets, telephone canvassing or stuffing envelopes.
Although Labour won more seats, the Lib Dems still ended up with exactly half the seats. Thanks to a defection they had a majority of 1. With no elections for two years after, it was obvious the Group would face tough elections in 2010 and 2011. Colin Eldridge’s campaign to become Wavertree MP attracted a lot of campaigners, energy, enthusiasm and it is a shame he didn’t get elected as MP.
Despite the above help, the only three (apart from bumping into councillors during the election campaign) we had regular contact with were Tom Morrison (now a councillor) and Gary Millar (before and after he became a Lib Dem councillor who then switched to Labour) and former Cllr/Wavertree PPC Colin Eldridge. The former two both helped us on the Fresher Fair’s stalls at Liverpool University/John Moores. At the high point the youth wing had more members than the youth equivalent of the Labour and Tories in the city.
Sadly this has not been the case recently and the tuition fees issue I’m sure hasn’t helped. We did request meetings with Lib Dem councillors through Tom, however generally apologies were made urgent matters regarding local residents.
The Labour youth wing had their local parties behind them and benefitted from being invited to high profile visits (eg Gordon Brown coming to the Wirral). With the greatest respect I would suggest that involving the youth and student members who hold tens of thousands of votes in Liverpool with the party is key to its survival in Liverpool if its fortunes are to be turned round.
The students that manned the phone banks canvassing for the party in 2008 came from those people who’d signed up to scrap ID cards or tuition fees petitions at the University of Liverpool.
I’m sure contact between yourself and whatever youth group is still running would be welcome. I’m sure since the tuition fees it is smaller than the thirty or so it was in the days I chaired it, but considering in those days about five to six of those would help with delivering at election time it can make a difference.
All the best of luck with how things go between now and 2011. If the Liverpool party is to reverse its fortunes it will need an active youth wing and to go out and recruit the Lib Dem members who will be the future councillors of tomorrow. I know from the Wirral side that the Group has reduced from twenty to ten in the past couple of years that we too need to do the same thing. I think everybody in the party is hoping that 2011 represents a low point.
John Brace
All the best for the future Paula. There is no question that Labour will make a mess again. We just have to be ready when they do.
If Liverpool is anything like Scotland it’s not just a mountain the Lib Dems have to climb, they’re finished as a major force in the city and it’s not something they’ll likely be able to recover from for at least a generation.
Up here in Scotland we always saw the Lib Dems as a centre left alternative to the Labour Party, a centre left party that wanted to redistribute a bit of wealth like Labour used to only without all the authoritarian stuff. That’s how they always potrayed themselves up here. Down in the South of England I believe they made themselves out to be something different, more like moderate Tories with liberal tendencies.
Now they’re in government they’ve been found out, they can’t be both, and they’re yellow Tories, the sort that vote to make university cost £9,000 per year. That sort of thing is just not acceptable to their centre left voter based up here so their based left them. I suspect it might be the same in the North of England.
in reply to Sean.
They (Radfords lot) reversed the trend in their Tuebrook heartland, we can learn from them.
It helps no one but the greens and Labour having two Liberal partys in Liverpool.
Having the opening shot of the year with the new Leader asking the council to open up the committee system so all cllrs can substitute in the same party was a pretty simple declaration that the Lib Dem Group is totally demoralized and incapable of getting named cllrs and their alternates to turn up to their reduced allocation of committees
The Lib Dems in the city had some merits but demolishing homes and forcing people out of working class communities showed the Lib Dems were devoid of liberalism .
Dear Mr. Radford,
when has any part of the party forced working class people out of their communities?
You’re getting confused with the Labour party.
Tine – I am a Cllr and throughout HMRI your Lib Dems backed CPO s in the HMRI
Dont blame Labour for your policies which funded by a labour government were pursued by a Lib Dem majority