As Liverpool prepares to vote for its first directly-elected mayor, JMU Journalism aims to talk to all of the candidates to see what they are offering the public. We spoke to Steve Radford about his bid.
Liberal Party leader and councillor Steve Radford has said that he aims to push the Government on its promise to provide Liverpool with five business parks as part of the city deal if elected mayor.
Radford admitted that he is not hugely enamoured by the newly established role, telling JMU Journalism: “I don’t particularly want to be the Mayor of Liverpool, I look at it totally the other way around, I took the view of do I think I can add value to the role.”
The veteran councillor is pushing the idea of pulling businesses into Liverpool to create money for the local economy as well as new jobs for the areas which need them most.
He believes his personal selling point is his 30 years working in International Telecoms saying: “When politicians talk to industrialists they might as well be talking another language.
“The industrialist doesn’t care where the labour comes from, he wants to know if he can ‘get the product out of the door’. I can talk that language. Other people can talk it, I’ve done it.”
Radford aims to build some of the 12 proposed technical colleges within the 5 promised business parks if elected.
He said: “If I could do that with three or four of the business parks in the city and offer concessions to get major
employers back into the city again then I will quite happily retire the role and the job.”
Radford is involved in many charities and community centres in his current ward Tuebrook and Stoneycroft and claims that his presence there over the years has allowed him to get stuff done for the community, citing his establishment of a
Citizens Advice Bureau for residents in financial difficulty.
“There is not a resident in Tuebrook, or the surrounding communities, who doesn’t know that Steve Radford walks the patch, you’ve got to be accessible you’ve got to listen to what is happening in the city but then you’ve got to do something having listened.”
The outspoken councillor has caused some controversy during his time at Liverpool Council, vigorously backing the “NO2ID” movement against the introduction of Identification Cards
He also spoke on behalf of the “Liverpool Gay Village Business Association” having joined the “Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement.”
He added: “What I would say is distinctive about Steve Radford is… when we’re short of resources [I know] what are the real priorities that will address the needs of the whole city not just special interest groups.”