VOTERS across Merseyside will be heading to the polls this week to choose their political representatives but no council elections are happening in Wirral.

Elections are taking place on May 2 across the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, which includes the boroughs of Wirral, Halton, Liverpool, Sefton, Knowsley, and St Helens.

There are votes taking place to elect the region’s Police and Crime Commissioner as well as the mayor of the city region.

Council elections are also taking place in some parts of the Liverpool City Region in the boroughs of Sefton, Halton and Knowsley but none are taking place on the Wirral. In fact, the next time council elections are held on Wirral will be in 2027.

This is because of all-out elections that were held in May 2023 that saw 66 councillors elected across the borough. This is because the council changed its political structures.

Previously councillors were elected in thirds across the borough’s 22 wards with elections running three years out of every four. Now voters choose three councillors in their area for four year terms.

All-out elections was one of the recommendations made by a report commissioned by the UK government that investigated Wirral Council’s finances, management, and decision making. Council officers interviewed as part of the review said “the frequency of elections appears to be encouraging a focus on short-term political point scoring rather than consensus building.”

The report said this meant parties were always focused on the next election and would avoid difficult financial decisions because of potential political risks. No political party currently has overall control which means any vote needs at least two parties to support it.

Currently, there are 29 Labour councillors in Wirral with a Labour council leader Cllr Paul Stuart and a deputy council leader Cllr Jean Robinson. In opposition, there are the Conservatives with 17 councillors led by Cllr Jeff Green. There are also 14 councillors represented by the Green Party and six Liberal Democrats.

The May 2023 elections saw the Labour Party and the Green Party make historic gains. Labour won seven seats overall including Greasby, Frankby and Irby for the first time while Greens were elected in Bromborough and Rock Ferry in previously Labour-voting areas.

30 Labour councillors were elected which is four seats short of a majority. However they now only have 29 councillors after Cllr Gail Jenkinson controversially defected to the Green Party.

It was a tough day for the Conservatives who lost seven seats and came within 21 votes of losing a councillor to the Liberal Democrats in Heswall but they fared better than some predictions. They still remain Wirral’s second largest party but they are now the smallest they’ve been on the council since 1999.