Democratic Audit

Who Governs Merseyside? The Public Vote

Update: 14 October 2011 - voting is now closed. The results will be announced shortly.

At our first Who Governs Merseyside? event on 6 October 2011, a total of 25 people were nominated by our expert panel and members of the audience as those with the greatest power to shape public policy on Merseyside.

All Merseyside residents will now have the opportunity to vote for the five individuals who they think have the most power to shape public policy on Merseyside and who they would like to see answer a series of questions about their power and accountability at a future event, planned for late November.

When voting, you can choose 5 from any of the 25 individuals nominated at the opening event. Alternatively, make some of your choices from this list and nominate up to two other individuals of your choice. However, you can only vote for five people in total.

You can vote on-line via the link below or in person at the Bluecoat, School Lane, Liverpool L1 3BX.

Voting will close at 12 noon on Friday 14 October.

The 25 nominees are listed on the ballot in alphabetical order, by their surname. Before voting, you will also need to provide your home postcode as confirmation that you live on Merseyside.

Before voting, please read through the list of nominees, and the reason for their nomination, below:

• Cllr Joe Anderson (Leader, Liverpool City Council): nominated as the political leader of Merseyside's largest elected council and highest spending public body and as the Chair of the Liverpool City Region Super Cabinet, alongside several other roles.

• Mr Gideon Ben-Tovim (Chair, Liverpool Primary Care Trust): nominated as the Chair of the largest Primary Care Trust on Merseyside, which has a significant say in how health services are delivered in Liverpool. 

• Ms Luciana Berger MP (Labour MP for Liverpool Wavertree): nominated at the Merseyside MP most likely to be able to influence government ministers on key policy issues and as the local MP most likely to wield power in the future.

• Dr Vincent Cable MP (UK Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills): nominated for his power to shape planning and economic development policy across Merseyside, in the context of a highly centralised political system.

• Mr David Cameron (UK Prime Minister): nominated as the individual who has greatest oversight of all aspects of UK national policy which impact on the development of Merseyside and the lives of its residents.

• Ms Claire Dove (Chief Executive, Blackburne House): nominated in view of her wider-ranging influence across the voluntary sector on Merseyside as well as on the policy agenda for the city-region in a broader sense.

• Mr Ged Fitzgerald (Chief Executive, Liverpool City Council): nominated as the individual who makes the day-to-day decisions about the running of Merseyside's largest elected council and highest spending public body

• Mr John Flamson (Director of Strategic Partnerships and Development, University of Liverpool): nominated for his long-term influence on public policy on Merseyside in a variety of roles since 1979, including past responsibility for the EU's Objective 1 programme.

• Mr Gerald Grosvenor (Duke of Westminster): nominated as a significant investor in Liverpool city centre, most notably Liverpool One, through Grosvenor Estates.

• Lord Michael Heseltine (former Deputy Prime Minister and former Minister for Merseyside): nominated for his long-term influence on public policy on Merseyside, particularly as Secretary of State for the Environment in the 1980s, but arguably continuing to this today.

• Mr Rod Holmes (Chair, Mersey Partnership): nominated as the Chair of a key public-private partnerships for Merseyside as a whole and as a key player in the development of the Local Enterprise Partnership for the Liverpool City Region.

• Ms Carole Hudson (Chief Executive, St. Helens Metropolitan Borough Council): nominated in view of her day-to-day operational responsibility for one of Merseyside's five elected local councils and a major public spending body in the city-region.

• Mr Bill Kenwright (Owner, Everton Football Club): nominated via secret ballot by a member of the audience, presumably for his influence on issues relating to planning matters and other aspects of public policy.

• Sir Terry Leahy (former Chief Executive of Tesco): nominated as the former head of one of the significant investors in Merseyside. He was also approached to chair the Local Enterprise Partnership, although he declined the offer.

• Mr Alastair Machray (Editor, Liverpool Echo): nominated for his power to determine the issues covered by the city-region's largest circulation daily newspaper, and the regular, often long-running, campaigns which it runs on Merseyside issues.

• Ms Teresa May MP (UK Home Secretary): nominated for her power to shape all aspects of criminal justice policy on Merseyside, as exemplified by the nature of her response to the summer’s public disorder.

• Mr Jon Murphy (Chief Constable, Merseyside Police): nominated for his operational responsibility for all aspects of policing across Merseyside.

• Prof. Sir Howard Newby (Vice Chancellor, University of Liverpool): nominated in view of the University's influence, not only in the provision of higher education, but also in all aspects of economic development in the city-region.

• Mr Eric Pickles MP (UK Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government): nominated for his power to determine how much funding Merseyside's councils receive, and to shape policy relating to all aspects of local government, especially  planning and economic development.

• Mr Pete Price (local DJ and activist): nominated via secret ballot by a member of the audience, presumably in view of his role in engaging Merseyside residents in widely-listened to radio debates about key local issues.

• Prof. Phil Redmond  (Chair, National Museums Liverpool and former Chair. Liverpool Culture Company): nominated as the individual who has demonstrated the greatest scope to gain the ear of central government regarding Liverpool Merseyside, including the ear of the last two Prime Ministers.

• Ms Lorraine Rogers (Chief Executive, The Mersey Partnership): nominated as the individual who makes the day-to-day decisions in Merseyside's key public-private partnership, and which is central to the development of the Local Enterprise Partnership for the Liverpool City Region.

• Mr Neil Scales (Chief Executive, Merseytravel): nominated not only for his power to shape transport policy across Merseyside but also to shape decision-making in related areas such as tourism and economic development. 

• Prof. Nigel Weatherill (Vice Chancellor and Chief Executive, Liverpool John Moores University): nominated, despite being new in the post, as the successor to previous LJMU vice-chancellors who have demonstrated consistent scope to influence policy-making in the city-region in a broad-ranging way.

• Mr John Whittaker  (Founder and Chair of Peel Group): nominated as the founder of the Peel Group (previously Peel Holdings) which is arguably the most significant developer and landowner across Merseyside, with a portfolio that includes Liverpool Airport and Liverpool Freeport.

Please Note: If you choose to make your own nominations when voting, please provide the names (or at least the job title) of individuals rather than the names of organisations. Some members of the audience at our first event nominated organisations rather than individuals as 'power-holders' on Merseyside. While these suggestion were all perfectly valid, we have had to exclude them since the intention is to invite the individuals deemed to wield most power to a subsequent event.