Liam Robinson has set out where he thinks the battle lines will be drawn for Liverpool in 2027
Cllr Liam Robinson, leader of Liverpool Council(Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)
The battle for Liverpool’s political future lies between Labour and Reform UK, according to the leader of the city council who has claimed Nigel Farage’s party would be “inevitably damaging” for the city. If national polls are to be believed throughout this year, Mr Farage’s political insurgents are in the driving seat to replace Keir Starmer’s governing party in Downing Street come the next general election.
According to a YouGov survey earlier this month, Reform UK held an eight point lead at the top of the pile, with 27% of voters saying they would back them in 2029, the most likely year of the next general election. Before then will be the all-out elections to decide who runs Liverpool for another four years in 2027.
Labour is heading into its 16th year at the top of the Cunard Building, having retaken the administration from the Liberal Democrats in 2010. Cllr Liam Robinson is the man at the helm going into the New Year and has set his sights clearly on one opponent in particular.
He said: “Let’s be dead honest, the real fight in this city and the real fight across this country is Labour versus Reform. I think one of the best examples I can use is we’re proud how in the past year we’ve insourced two care homes that were failing and the prime provider was leaving.
“We’ve then taken those back into council operation so we can deliver proper quality care for vulnerable people and make sure that we can actually maximise the uses of those because previously, those homes people understandably didn’t want to send their loved ones to. It’s been really good to see the improvements that have been stepped through and frankly, we’ve looked after the workforce there.
“Those people are now being paid the real living wage, they weren’t before, so there’s so much we’ve done with that. I use that as a good example of a Labour council making a practical difference because if you go to Malvina, for example, up in Anfield, it’s eight miles as the crow flies to the border with Lancashire County Council.
“Lancashire under Reform and all the madness that’s going on there, are shutting care homes. Pretty cruelly, I believe, and I think that shows the kind of the true difference of what we’re up against here.”
Reform UK Leader Nigel Farage(Image: PA)
In 2023, Reform only stood one candidate and was comfortably beaten into fifth place out of six in the Wavertree Village ward. In two subsequent city council by-elections this year, the party has fielded candidates, in Much Woolton and Hunts Cross, and Sefton Park but is yet to do enough to get a seat in the Town Hall.
The ECHO asked Cllr Robinson if he felt voters were indicating on the doorstep that they could abandon his party and start a turquoise wave on the banks of the Mersey. He said: “People mention different political parties and Reform are one of those.
“I think people are still sticking with the Labour Party, but we know we’ve got to crack on with that delivery at the end of the day, but the fight is genuinely in this city and beyond Labour versus Reform and I believe very, very strongly we cannot risk Farage and all of his acolytes, because they would be like (Margaret) Thatcher on steroids.
“They might say different things about the NHS, but when push comes to shove, they would dismantle it. It would be basically an American style insurance scheme and how the hell do people afford that?”
The Labour group leader, who will be hoping to take a second four year term as council chief come 2027, was unequivocal in his warning against a vote for Reform and what it could mean for the city. He said: “They would be inevitably damaging for Liverpool.
“I think they’re damaging wherever they go, look at the racism that’s kind of enveloping Staffordshire County Council at this moment in time, and the madness and the chaos you’re seeing there. This isn’t a way that you should be treating running big public authorities, be that local or national, and it really worries me that the rhetoric that we get from Farage and all of his acolytes on social media.
“That’s not what we want for this city. I know it’s not what the majority of people in this city want either and that’s why we will keep fighting Reform in this city and across this country.”
Responding to Cllr Robinson’s take, Alexander Hitchmough, Reform UK Merseyside coordinator, said: “Cllr Robinson’s desperate smears are designed to distract from the fact he is running a council that is stuck in the past and defined by poor leadership and a lack of transparency, all whilst failing to deliver adequate local services, whacking up bills and running up eye-watering debts. Meanwhile, Labour councils are in complete chaos, with the party losing more than 216 councillors through resignations, suspensions or defections in the last seven months alone.
“We’ve seen Labour on Merseyside implement record council tax rises, make cuts to vital services, and face seemingly endless corruption charges, all while failing to address a regional childhood obesity epidemic, and paying lip service to the area leading the UK tables in domestic violence and femicide.
“Residents of Liverpool and Merseyside have had enough of a Labour regime that is holding this great region back. It’s no wonder Reform UK is already winning council seats across Merseyside.”