Liverpool has long earned a reputation as one of the most left-wing cities in Great Britain. The Labourers have ruled here for a long time, the Liberals also have some influence, while the Conservatives in the imagination of the Scousers are the enemies of all good. How did it affect the city and the political composition of the City Council? Learn more at liverpoolyes.com.
Burning hatred of the Tories. Is there a reason for it?
Liverpudlians have a saying “You side with the Tories, you’ve slept with the Devil”. Thus, you can only imagine how deeply the locals hate this political force. Boris Johnson was persona non grata here during his tenure as the country’s Prime Minister. The reason was that when Johnson was an editor of the Spectator magazine, it published a phrase that Liverpool was a miserable city. Then the representatives of the Liverpool City Council said that Liverpool has a long memory and the Conservatives are toxic even today.
However, this hatred didn’t start with Boris Johnson or even Margaret Thatcher. In fact, it is a much older story that might have been more optimistic for the Tories.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the council was ruled by the Conservatives. Then Liverpool became a leader in implementing many social reforms. For example, it was the first European settlement to start providing residents with urban housing. The Labourers didn’t enter the council until 1905. However, Liverpool is one of the last major cities in the country where the Labour Party became a dominant force. It happened in 1955. After that, the Tories ruled in the City Council occasionally and for a short time, as in most cases other forces prevailed.
We have already analysed the reasons for this situation here. In short, the situation in Liverpool depended mostly on what was happening in London. When the country’s central government is Conservative, Scousers, who have a strong identity and left-wing preferences, support the Labourers and the Liberals. When London is controlled by other forces, the Conservatives get a chance to win more votes in the city. Thus, Scousers are always against London’s tendencies.
50-year control over the City Council
Bearing that story in mind, we can better understand what happened in the City Council from the end of the 1970s to the beginning of the 2020s.
In the late 1970s, the city was governed by the Liberal Party, led by Sir Trevor Jones. He had plans to cut the council’s spending by a quarter and did implement that. When the Conservative Party won the general election and demanded cuts to the City Council’s spending, it turned out that this change had already been implemented in Liverpool. So, the city authorities agreed on an exception and no additional cuts were needed.
In the 1980s, a group of Trotskyist militants gained control of the Labour Party in Liverpool. It tried to challenge the national government on several fundamental issues. Those times were quite stormy for the city. However, they also resulted in “purges” in the ranks of the Labour Party. Some members were expelled, so the crisis was over. After that, the dominance of Labour was threatened only by corruption scandals.
However, we shouldn’t focus only on the negative aspects. The city has a good track record of fighting poverty and other social problems. It wouldn’t have happened without the efforts of local authorities. It is also worth noting that modern Liverpool has more than three competing political forces. In particular, there are six of them. In addition to those you can surely name, there are also the Liberal Democrats, the Greens and TUSC (Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition).