On Tuesday I participated in a slightly surreal event in which ‘leading bloggers’ from the North West took part in a discussion with Joe Anderson, leader of the Labour Group on Liverpool City Council. This blog is slightly different to others in that it aims primarily to inform local Fabians about our events and other events of interest. It isn’t written by or centred around one person, not that such blogs don’t have a place, so I was a little surprised and pleased (not least because I went to university in Liverpool and I’m always delighted to go back) when Joe’s office approached me to come along and take part in the meeting. The meeting was a bit of an experiment, a chance for a high profile North West politician to communicate to get out his message through the ‘blogosphere’ rather than the local media.
Put simply, it was well worth it. Like most Liverpudlians Joe can talk a good game and he’s clearly being doing a lot of talking with the electorate over the months and years about the problems facing Liverpool. The main issues facing Joe on the doorstep? ‘dog muck’, ‘unemployment’, ‘housing’ and ‘dog muck’. As Joe rightly says, Liverpool has a strong political identity and that identity has enabled the local Labour Party to hammer home a local message regardless of what is happening nationally. It is a luxury that not all local parties, particularly in the South have. But Joe’s ability to grasp the local issues, attack the Lib Dems who control the city council and not get distracted in this task seems to be one of his strengths.
Despite the discussions that Joe might be having on the doorstep, the meeting with the bloggers often came back to the issue that has faced all the major northern cities over the last decade: regeneration. On this Joe believes Liverpool has missed a real opportunity to regenerate and reenergize as a city. Manchester used the bomb, the Commonwealth Games and a united and forward thinking council to move forward, whilst Liverpool has seen Objective One funding come and go and proposals for a fourth grace and tram system scrapped under the leadership of a split Liberal Democrat council.
What is clear is that Joe has a vision for Liverpool. It only took a few questions, in particular Dr Bill Jones ("skipper") and Stephen Newton had done their research, to tease out Joe’s thoughts about how Liverpool can use regeneration and investment to improve the lives of all of those living in the city. If Labour does regain control of the council on 1st May, Joe will become the first full time leader of the city, he’ll work hard with neighbouring councils like Sefton and Wirral to create a stronger ‘greater Merseyside’ region and will work with the private and public sectors to regenerate the city, in particular the north end of Liverpool. Housing is also a major priority for Joe in a city that has an official council house waiting list of 14,000.
Joe is confident that the Lib Dems will lose control of the council on 1st May and it is easy to understand why. The worst council in the country, presided over by a disunited leadership that has budgeted for £62million worth of cuts this year has lost popularity. But it isn’t all negative campaigning. The most refreshing aspect of the discussion was Joe’s eagerness for office. It contrasted nicely with some of the vacuous discussions we hear nationally from Labour figures about ‘renewal’. Joe is hungry and impatient, he has a clear vision for the city and the wider Merseyside area, he wants to implement that vision and he certainly doesn’t mind letting people know!
Good luck Joe.
Graham Whitham
Put simply, it was well worth it. Like most Liverpudlians Joe can talk a good game and he’s clearly being doing a lot of talking with the electorate over the months and years about the problems facing Liverpool. The main issues facing Joe on the doorstep? ‘dog muck’, ‘unemployment’, ‘housing’ and ‘dog muck’. As Joe rightly says, Liverpool has a strong political identity and that identity has enabled the local Labour Party to hammer home a local message regardless of what is happening nationally. It is a luxury that not all local parties, particularly in the South have. But Joe’s ability to grasp the local issues, attack the Lib Dems who control the city council and not get distracted in this task seems to be one of his strengths.
Despite the discussions that Joe might be having on the doorstep, the meeting with the bloggers often came back to the issue that has faced all the major northern cities over the last decade: regeneration. On this Joe believes Liverpool has missed a real opportunity to regenerate and reenergize as a city. Manchester used the bomb, the Commonwealth Games and a united and forward thinking council to move forward, whilst Liverpool has seen Objective One funding come and go and proposals for a fourth grace and tram system scrapped under the leadership of a split Liberal Democrat council.
What is clear is that Joe has a vision for Liverpool. It only took a few questions, in particular Dr Bill Jones ("skipper") and Stephen Newton had done their research, to tease out Joe’s thoughts about how Liverpool can use regeneration and investment to improve the lives of all of those living in the city. If Labour does regain control of the council on 1st May, Joe will become the first full time leader of the city, he’ll work hard with neighbouring councils like Sefton and Wirral to create a stronger ‘greater Merseyside’ region and will work with the private and public sectors to regenerate the city, in particular the north end of Liverpool. Housing is also a major priority for Joe in a city that has an official council house waiting list of 14,000.
Joe is confident that the Lib Dems will lose control of the council on 1st May and it is easy to understand why. The worst council in the country, presided over by a disunited leadership that has budgeted for £62million worth of cuts this year has lost popularity. But it isn’t all negative campaigning. The most refreshing aspect of the discussion was Joe’s eagerness for office. It contrasted nicely with some of the vacuous discussions we hear nationally from Labour figures about ‘renewal’. Joe is hungry and impatient, he has a clear vision for the city and the wider Merseyside area, he wants to implement that vision and he certainly doesn’t mind letting people know!
Good luck Joe.
Graham Whitham
0 comments:
Post a Comment