Steve Rotheram, Mayor of the Liverpool City Region has launched his re-election campaign promising to create a city region where “no one is left behind”.

In a speech to supporters, the Metro Mayor unveiled three key campaign promises:

  • The guarantee of a job, training or an apprenticeship opportunity for every young person out of work for more than six months;
  • A plan for an integrated London-style transport system, including contactless payments, daily fare caps, an improved bus network, new Merseyrail stations and a walking and cycling network;
  • A Green Industrial Revolution to tackle climate change, including a Mersey Tidal Power scheme and a ‘Good Homes Standard’ to promote quality, energy efficient new homes.

The Metro Mayor also pointed to a record of delivery over the past three years including his key 2017 manifesto commitments of reducing Fast Tag tunnel tolls to £1, introducing a UCAS-style system and half-price travel for apprentices, and a new £8m Housing First scheme to reduce homelessness.

He also stressed the importance of devolution and increased local-decision making powers following last month’s general election result, which saw the Liverpool City Region buck the national in trend in voting overwhelmingly against Boris Johnson’s Conservatives.

Speaking at his campaign launch, Mayor Steve Rotheram said: “I want to create a region where no one is left behind and today I’m setting out my vision for how I’ll do just that.

“Offering our young people real opportunities to succeed, building a first-class public transport system and tackling the climate emergency are central to my plans for building a fairer, more equal local economy.

“For too long decisions about our future have been made far away in London by people who probably couldn’t find us on a map. Devolution has given us to chance to change that and over the past three years we’ve begun to show we can deliver real improvements for local people by placing local communities at the heart of everything that we do.

“With a newly-elected Tory government we need to use May’s local elections to send a message loud-and-clear that devolution is here to stay. Moving forward, we want more decisions to be taken here by local people, not by Boris Johnson down in London.”