The Liverpool Community Independents are a British

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

based in

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

, formed in 2022 by former Labour councillors.

History

In April 2022 five former Labour councillors who had been suspended for voting against Labour's budget plans and three already suspended members of the Labour Party formed the Liverpool Community Independents. In May 2022, the former

Lord Mayor of Liverpool The Lord Mayor of Liverpool is a largely ceremonial civic office of Liverpool City Council. The Lord Mayor is the ‘first citizen’ of Liverpool representing the city and acting as a focal point of community events and is also the Chair (off ...

Anna Rothery Anna Rothery is a British politician who served as the Lord Mayor of Liverpool from September 2019 to May 2021.leader Leadership, is defined as the ability of an individual, group, or organization to "", influence, or guide other individuals, teams, or organizations. "Leadership" is a contested term. Specialist literature debates various viewpoints on the co ...

, councillor Alan Gibbons was chosen as its

deputy leader A deputy leader (in Scottish English, sometimes depute leader) in the Westminster system is the second-in-command of a political party, behind the party leader. Deputy leaders often become Deputy prime minister when their parties are elected to go ...

and Sam Gorst was chosen as its

treasurer A treasurer is a person responsible for the financial operations of a government, business, or other organization. Government The treasury of a country is the department responsible for the country's economy, finance and revenue. The treasure ...

. By this time the party was formed of 8 former members of

Liverpool City Council Liverpool City Council is the Local government in England, local authority for the City status in the United Kingdom, city of Liverpool in Merseyside, England. Liverpool has had a local authority since 1207, which has been reformed on numerous ...

, who were among the group that had objected to what they called the Labour-led administration's "brutal" cuts to services. In 2023, Liverpool Community Independents' executive suspended

Anna Rothery Anna Rothery is a British politician who served as the Lord Mayor of Liverpool from September 2019 to May 2021.2023 Liverpool City council election The 2023 Liverpool City Council election took place on 4 May 2023 to elect members of Liverpool City Council. Following a Boundary Review by The Local Government Boundary Commission for England, the size of the council was reduced from 90 to 85 ...

, the party won three seats, leaving them three down from the eight they had before the election. However, one candidate in Orrell Park won with 77% of the vote in a ward that had been held by Labour for the past 20 years. Sam Gorst stood as the party's candidate in Liverpool Garston in the

2024 general election This is a list of elections that were held in 2024. The National Democratic Institute also maintains a calendar of elections around the world. * 2024 United Nations Security Council election * 2024 national electoral calendar * 2024 local electo ...

. He came third with 7.8% of the vote.

Manifesto

The party released a manifesto based around 5 core principles: # Fight against corruption and for governance based on the

Nolan Principles The Committee on Standards in Public Life (CSPL) is an advisory non-departmental public body of the United Kingdom Government, established by John Major in 1994 to advise the Prime Minister on ethical standards of public life. It promotes a code o ...

# Mount a national campaign against austerity # Avoid wasting public money # Build communities with good quality

social housing Public housing, also known as social housing, refers to Subsidized housing, subsidized or affordable housing provided in buildings that are usually owned and managed by local government, central government, nonprofit organizations or a ...

, a

green economy A green economy is an economy that aims at reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities, and that aims for sustainable development without environmental degradation, degrading the environment. It is closely related with ecological econ ...

and

clean air Air pollution is the presence of substances in the Atmosphere of Earth, air that are harmful to humans, other living beings or the environment. Pollutants can be Gas, gases like Ground-level ozone, ozone or nitrogen oxides or small particles li ...

# Empower citizens through

open governance Open-source governance (also known as open governance and open politics) is a political philosophy which advocates the application of the philosophies of the open-source and open-content movements to democratic principles to enable any interes ...

The five core principles outlined in the party's manifesto reflect key characteristics of autonomous movements, focusing on decentralisation, transparency, and community empowerment.

Elected councillors

Initial representation

Between its formation in May 2022, and the 2023 City Council elections, 8 out of 90 council seats were occupied by Community Independent councillors. Alan Gibbons was the Secretary of the Liverpool Walton

Constituency Labour Party A constituency Labour Party (CLP) is an organisation of members of the British Labour Party who live in a particular parliamentary constituency. In England and Wales, CLP boundaries coincide with those for UK parliamentary constituencies. In Sc ...

between 2016 and 2020.

Liverpool City Council

Electoral performance

References

{{Authority control Left-wing parties in the United Kingdom Liverpool Locally based political parties in England