Metro Mayor of Liverpool City Region, Steve Rotheram, Labour’s candidate for Metro Mayor, today (March 31st) launched his re-election manifesto promising to create a city region where “no one is left behind”.
In an online speech on Facebook and YouTube to supporters and voters, Steve Rotheram unveiled five key campaign promises:
- £150m Covid Recovery Fund to fund projects that will power our economic recovery and create new jobs for local workers.
- A Young Person’s Guarantee: a guaranteed job, training or apprenticeship opportunity for every school leaver out of work for more than six months.
- A London-Style Transport System: bringing together our buses, trains, ferries and cycling routes together – under local control – to provide a genuine alternative to the car, including contactless payments, daily fare caps and new Merseyrail stations.
- A Green Industrial Revolution: A plan to reach net-zero by 2040 or sooner, double the number of green jobs in the city region, and continue to develop the transformative Mersey Tidal project.
- A Digitally connected city region: complete the installation of a comprehensive ultra-fast broadband network to all six areas of the city region and support programmes to tackle digital exclusion.
The Metro Mayor also pointed to his record of delivery over the past four years, including:
- Leading the City Region’s response to Coronavirus: taking on Boris Johnson and the Government to win more funding and support for our councils, and a proper furlough scheme.
Investing more than £40m to keep the local economy afloat and put together exciting plans to help the region recover.
- The country’s fastest-growing city region economy pre-Covid: Over £400m invested across the city region creating 9,000 new jobs, 5,500 new apprenticeships and 15,000 new homes.
- Securing more funding from government: over £300m in extra funding secured for transport, skills and tackling homelessness, on top of devolution deal funding since 2017.
- Improving public transport: Led the campaign to strip Northern’s franchise, opened the Merseyrail network’s first new station for 20 years and took steps to take greater control of the region’s buses and rail infrastructure.
- Helping young people: £48m invested in upgrading local school and college facilities and launched the UK’s first UCAS-style apprenticeship portal.
Speaking about the launch of his manifesto, Mayor Steve Rotheram, said:
“As Metro Mayor my number one priority has always been to stand up for everyone, in every part, of our great city region. Today I’m setting out a bold vision of how I’ll continue to do just that over the next three years.
“Throughout the Coronavirus pandemic, I’ve stood up for our region, taking on Boris Johnson and the Government to win more funding and support for our councils. I’ve also invested more than £40m to keep the local economy afloat and put together exciting plans to help the region recover.
“If I’m re-elected, I’ll deliver a £150m COVID Recovery Fund, double the number of green jobs in our region and work to build a London-style transport system with more local control.
“In this election we need to send a message to the Government that they need to support areas like ours as we rebuild from coronavirus. If you give me your vote on May 6th. I will continue to stand up for you and together we can make sure Liverpool City Region is a place where no one is left behind.”
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