A special conversation with Steve Rotheram, Mayor of the Liverpool City Region

Since becoming Mayor in 2017, Steve Rotheram has focused on putting the public at the heart of public transport. He is introducing bus franchising in the region from 2026, has launched the country’s first publicly owned and designed trains in a generation and opened two new train stations (Maghull North and Headbolt Lane), and has signed a contract to build a new Mersey Ferry. The Mayor has also capped bus fares and frozen rail tickets – in pursuit of his goal of a London-style network that makes travel cheaper, as well as quicker and more reliable.

Join the Mayor for a special conversation where he’ll discuss his vision for transport in the Liverpool City Region.

About Steve Rotheram

Raised in Kirkby in a family of eight children, Steve left school at 16 to pursue a career as a bricklayer, starting out as an apprentice.  In later years he went on to work for the Learning and Skills Council. 

Steve began his political career when he was elected to serve as a councillor in 2002, representing Fazakerley ward on Liverpool City Council and held the ceremonial title of Lord Mayor of Liverpool through the city’s European Capital of Culture year in 2008.

In 2010, Steve was elected as the Member of Parliament for the Liverpool Walton constituency. While in Westminster, he led campaigns for justice for the Hillsborough families; in support of blacklisted workers; for compensation for those suffering from mesothelioma and asbestosis; and to change the law on the use of old tyres on buses and coaches.

In 2017, Steve was elected as the first ever Liverpool City Region Mayor, representing 1.6m people across the boroughs of Halton, Knowsley, Liverpool, Sefton, St Helens and the Wirral and was subsequently re-elected in 2021.

Since taking office, Steve has created 60,000 jobs, 30,000 apprenticeships and 30,000 homes. He has taken the historic decision to take back control of the region’s buses, launched a new £500m fleet of publicly owned fleet of trains, and led the region’s economic recovery from the pandemic with a £150m COVID Recovery Fund.

In 2024, Steve was elected for a third term as Mayor with 68% of the vote, his highest personal mandate and more than any other elected Mayor in the country. During his third term, Steve has pledged to return to council housebuilding at scale, to increase foreign direct investment (FDI) into the region, to build three new train stations and to launch a free pilot of artificial intelligence (AI) in local schools. He has also revised the region’s net zero target to 2035 – the most ambitious target for a city region in the country.