Nominations have closed and we have field of seven candidates to choose from in the election to be held on Thursday 5th May.
So who are they, let’s start by weeding out the no hopers:
Paul Rimmer, English Democrats. A man so homophobic and bigoted that even UKIP don’t want him. A vile character who deserves to play no part in public life.
Roger Bannister, Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition. TUSC aka Militant who spent the 1980s driving business away from the city and causing a generation to leave the city too. Mr Bannister wants to stop any cuts to public services but can’t say who would pay the bill.
Next the thanks, but no thanks:
Tony Caldeira, Conservative. Mr Caldeira is a successful businessman, but I’m afraid his party is so far removed from public life in Liverpool that his candidacy is rather pointless.
Tom Crone, Green Party. If this was a rural parish council I could understand the Green’s points, but this is a modern growing city, which is totally at odds with the party’s offer. The only city to have been run by the Greens was Brighton, and they made a right royal hash of it.
So we have three credible candidates left:
Richard Kemp, Liberal Democrats. Mr Kemp has lots of council experience, and he talks sense on some issues, but I have a number of issues with his manifesto. The first being that he doesn’t want the job. The LibDems have consistently failed to see any benefit in having an elected Mayor. My second issue is with handing control of the city’s parks to unelected “Community Groups”. I’ve asked Mr Kemp to clarify who these groups would be, who selects them, who they are accountable to and how anyone with a counter argument on any given matter would have their voice heard.
Joe Anderson, Labour Party. Mr Anderson is of course the current Mayor and on the whole has achieved his 2012 election promises. I wish Mr Anderson would act more Mayoral-like at times and stop the schoolboy politics. He is a recognised figure both in the UK and abroad and one of the most powerful elected people in the country, and should act like it more. He understands the need to work with government and businesses to bring more jobs and wealth to the city. An unanswered question to Mr Anderson is what happens next year if he is selected as Labour’s candidate for Liverpool City Region Mayor?
Alan Hutchinson, Independent. I’ve only been aware of Mr Hutchinson in the past week and I don’t know that much about him, but the ideas I have read so far seem sound and sensible. I need to look into his manifesto in more depth.
At the moment Mr Kemp, Mr Anderson and Mr Hutchinson are vying for my vote. But I have still to make my final decision. I’ll be watching them closely over the next three weeks.
The media, and especially the Liverpool Echo, need to allow a sensible platform for the voters to see who they are being asked to choose from, I hope they start taking the contest seriously, and quickly.
