Joanne Anderson

Joanne Marie Anderson (born 7 January 1971) is a British Labour Party politician who served as the second and final directly elected Mayor of Liverpool from 2021 to 2023. She previously served as the Liverpool City Councillor for the Princes Park ward from October 2019 to May 2021. She was the first woman to be Mayor of the city and the first black woman to be a directly elected mayor in the UK. Anderson left office in May 2023 at the end of her term.

Early life
Anderson was born in Liverpool in 1971. She has said that growing up under Margaret Thatcher's government made her feel like she was "at the bottom of the pile" and that she would not "amount to much".

Anderson left school at 16 with no qualifications, but completed a degree in Business Studies as a mature student. She completed a BA in business studies at Liverpool John Moores University between 1996 and 1999, and is currently completing an MBA at the same university.

Anderson has had a successful career as an equality, diversity and inclusion practitioner and a business consultant. She is currently working on a place-based social investment pathfinder, to help the growth of socially trading organisations in the Liverpool City Region.

Career
Anderson's profession is mainly as a business consultant, but she has also worked as a civil servant for the Crown Prosecution Service for over a decade. She previously worked as a business consultant and has worked as an advisor and a member of the board of trustees for various organisations, including Emmaus Merseyside (a charity providing work and housing to homeless people in the UK), Merseyside Probation Service, and Merseyside Equality and Employment Law. She was elected as a councillor for the Princes Park ward in a by-election in October 2019 with 73% of the vote, and has served on the Education and Children's Services Select Committee.

Alongside her mayoral election, Joanne has been responsible for a string of ‘firsts’: she launched the first Black-led social enterprise in Liverpool as well as the first Black-led social traders network. She has an internationally recognised reputation through her work around equalities and spearheaded Liverpool’s international profile in her role for Liverpool City Council. Alongside Eurovision, the Liverpool Against Racism festival was the first of its kind globally, a thought-provoking, entertaining, empowering, and educational week described by one participant as an “intellectual Glastonbury”.

Mayor of Liverpool
Anderson became Labour's candidate for Mayor of Liverpool following the announcement by incumbent Mayor Joe Anderson (no relation) that he would not run for re-election following his arrest in December 2020. She became the party's candidate after the selection process re-opened and the three initial candidates (Acting Mayor Wendy Simon, Lord Mayor Anna Rothery, and former Deputy Mayor Ann O'Byrne) were barred from running. She was elected Mayor of Liverpool with 59.2% of the vote in a second round of voting, since she failed to secure 50% of the votes in the first round. She is the first black woman to be a directly elected Mayor in the UK and vowed to develop a strategy supporting ending violence against women and girls and implement the recommendations of the Caller Report, which highlighted "serious failings" in the city council's leadership.

Joanne’s term as mayor demonstrated cross-cutting and situational leadership, guiding the council through its most tumultuous period in history, reported by the city’s commissioners as a “positive shift”. Outcomes and significant achievements were demonstrated in capacity, capability, transformation, governance audit and risk, workforce culture, financial robustness, as well as key service improvements, with the former secretary of state for levelling up, housing and communities, Michael Gove, praising the “hard work, ambition, and determination” of Anderson, her cabinet and the corporate leadership team.

Coming to the end of her two-year term, Joanne reflected on the challenges and successes as Liverpool’s figurehead, saying “I didn’t do it for the glory, I did it because I wanted to help the city."

'Triple lock' pledge
As Mayor of Liverpool, Joanne pioneered the ‘triple lock’ approach – a manifesto commitment – putting people, planet and equality at the heart of every decision. The pledge ensured that every decision made by the council was scrutinised to provide value for local people and measured against the city’s net-zero carbon target. She described this as a ‘step-change’ in the council’s approach, ensuring that its activities, resources and influence were directed towards maximising the social, environmental and economic benefits to the city and its people.

As part of this pledge, the council’s team also introduced an inclusive consultation process, giving communities across the city a voice and involvement in shaping development in the city.

Community asset transfer strategy
In June 2022, Liverpool City Council, under Joanne Anderson’s leadership, approved a ‘grassroots revolution’. The city’s Community Asset Transfer Policy allowed buildings and land to be leased at less than market rent in return for ‘social value’ projects. “There are so many buildings or pieces of land in Liverpool that are simply being left to rot because the council does not have the finances to resurrect them,” said Anderson. “The city’s third sector is full of ideas on how they can be used to rejuvenate a community. This Community Asset Transfer policy is going to right that wrong.”

Eurovision Song Contest
Following Ukraine’s Eurovision Song Contest win in 2022, Liverpool was chosen as the 2023 host city because of the ongoing war in Ukraine. ’“The only credit I can take for Eurovision is that I was the decision-maker,” she says of the decision to bid for host city status. The city’s host role focused on becoming a sustainability pioneer. The event was the first to measure its environmental footprint, anchoring it to the ‘Triple Lock’ manifesto by prioritising people, planet and equality. This aligned with the city’s dedication to the Paris Agreement and broader Sustainable Development Goals. Working with the BBC, Liverpool aimed to lay the groundwork for enhanced sustainable practices in subsequent events, influencing future host cities.

Communities across the city were invited to share in the celebrations, with grants of up to £2k, called ‘EuroFest' and education programme EuroLearn. In October 2023, Eurovision’s economic impact was announced, generating a by £54.8million (net) boost to the Liverpool City Region economy. It shows Liverpool as the event’s most successful host, including a programme of more than 30 specially-commissioned cultural events, celebrating the ties between Liverpool and Ukraine.

Violence against women and girls
As mayor, Joanne Anderson and her team developed a comprehensive strategy to tackle violence against women and girls, working with City Safe Partners to launch a campaign around sexual violence in the night-time economy. “In our city alone, the police receive 14,000 calls a year related to domestic violence – and that is just the cases that are reported,” she said.

AOC Arms Fair
A controversial arms fair was held at Liverpool's Exhibition Centre despite widescale protests and objections. The venue is part of the Arena and Convention Centre in Liverpool, which is owned by Liverpool City Council but run by a separate company.

Mayor Joanne Anderson, along with a number of members of her top team, has publicly stated that she fundamentally disagrees with the holding of the arms fair, an event that was booked way before her time in office. Joanne stated that the council was powerless in stopping the event from take place, and trying to do so would leave the authority open to legal challenges.

In a statement, Mayor Anderson said: "AOC Europe 2021 raises serious moral and ethical questions. I am appalled that this event is being held in Liverpool – in one of our buildings. Many of you have been in touch with me to outline, in no uncertain terms, your views. I am a pacifist and I have been consistently clear that I am in absolute agreement with you. I have sought extensive soundings from our legal team, but based on their expert advice, regrettably there is nothing that I as Mayor, or the council, can do to prevent this event from taking place. What I won’t do, is subject our council to legal challenge at a time when our resources are so limited."

Mayor Joanne Anderson has called on ACC Liverpool to implement a motion passed by Full Council in July, requesting that the venues adopts an ethical charter and update their risk register to include risk embarrassment and negative association for Liverpool City Council. This will ensure that future potential events are considered in line with the fundamental values of Liverpool before being accepted.

Personal life
Anderson described herself as a single mother of a teenage boy in 2018, and has said that she has faced bankruptcy twice. She has called herself a "proud black, working-class Scouser who loves our city and its people".

Anderson is a fan of City of Liverpool FC, citing her preference for the team over either of the city's two most famous teams (Liverpool FC and Everton FC) because it is "community owned and operated" and represents unity within the city, in contrast to the rivalry between Liverpool and Everton. Referencing the team's trademark colour, which combines the colours of Liverpool and Everton, she tweeted, "We are a proud footballing city with a rich and historic affiliation to the sport. Mix blue with red, you get purple."