Liverpool will elect a city mayor on 3 May

Macca? Our Cilla? Ken Dodd even? You never can tell, but probably not.

It looks as though the first really big city mayor outside London will be Liverpool's current Labour leader Joe Anderson.

He has played a skilful game over local government with the coalition in Whitehall and it's now culminated in an overwhelming vote to bypass the coming mayoral referenda and go for an elected first Scouser citizen on 3 May.

An extraordinary meeting of the city council has approved the move overwhelmingly, with 62 votes in favour, three against (Greens John Coyne and Sarah Jennings and Lib Dem Jan Clein) and 12 Lib Dem abstentions. A formal notice of election now has to be issued before 27 March and nominations close on 4 April.

In the Guardian Northerner's modest opinion, it would be great if some of the grand port city's well-known offspring had a crack; not necessarily because they might win, but to big up Liverpool in the way that all England's regional cities deserve and need. If you know any of them, please do a bit of gentle lobbying. Meanwhile, Anderson's bandwagon is off on a roll.

One of his first public supporters is Frank Mckenna, chair of Downtown Liverpool in Business, which pushed the elected mayor idea as long ago as 2004 and has been campaigning for a referendum. The former Labour bigwig on Lancashire county council says:

This result sets a real national precedent and it is great news for Liverpool as it means that we will be ahead of the game now in terms of making the most of this fantastic opportunity.
 
It is quite clear that Liverpool's business community want an elected mayor. A large scale poll we conducted last week showed that over 70% of people were strongly in favour of the decision, and Anderson's somewhat controversial decision for bypassing a public referendum on the matter means we will start seeing the impact more quickly than other cities.
 
I believe that Joe Anderson is the right man for the job, and will now in a position to drive the growth we need to see on the back of the £130m funding coming to us as a result of this decision.
 
Liverpool is now in a strong position to deliver a whole raft of vital development programmes, and the additional private investment will make a huge economic difference across the region.

The money to which he refers is coming through Liverpool's negotiations under the City Deals initiative which have been going on since September for the additional powers and resources.
 
The Cities Minister, Greg Clark says of the agreement:

It is fantastic to see Liverpool become the first city in Britain to seize the opportunity on offer. This deal will be a major boost to the standing of this great city - both within Britain and on the world stage. Liverpool has seized the chance to attract private investment, create jobs and build a prosperous future. This is, I hope, the first of many such deals with our cities.

Of the Mayoral vote, he says:

This  is an historic opportunity for  Liverpool to build a prosperous  future and achieve its full  potential. Liverpool is showing  the way forward.

It will be interesting to see what and who the Lib Dems and Tories come up with. The Lib Dem leader, and long-standing expert on local government, Richard Kemp told the council meeting that the referendum bypass was undemocratic:

I don't believe a major  constitutional change should be  decided by a caucus of the  Labour Party or this council  chamber, it should be decided by  the people of Liverpool.

A local pro-mayor campaigner, Liam Fogarty, and celebrity local hairdresser Herbert Howe have also put their hats into the Mayoral ring. The winner will serve for four years, choosing a cabinet from the city's 90 elected councillors. It should all be quite exciting – and a test of both hopes and doubts over City Mayors, as raised in the Northerner's debate on the issue last week which you can read here and here.

Joe Anderson also wrote for us before Christmas and that's here, with Northerner political columnist Ed Jacob's commentary on it here.