‘I’ll name Keir on election night time to verify North will get what it deserves’

When Tony Blair gained energy again on that magical night time in 1997, Steve Rotheram was a “brickie in Kirkby”, his house city on Merseyside.

Today, as he appears ahead to Keir Starmer reaching an identical election triumph for Labour, Steve is the Liverpool Metro Mayor and has energy and affect – which he intends to make use of.

He says: “We’re trying to schedule a call in to Keir for one minute past 10 on election night.” And what he’ll demand of the Labour chief is motion to sort out the North/South divide that, regardless of the Tories’ “levelling up” rhetoric, is wider than ever after their 14 years in authorities.

He says: “The differential between the North and South here is worse than it was during reunification in Germany. So the divide that has happened over the last 14 years is now worse.

“That’s just mind-blowing. After the reunification of East and West Germany they put a tax on the West Germans that was used for the East German side to bring them up to the same sort of levels.”

In his Thirteenth-floor workplace overlooking the Mersey, he speaks fervently a couple of first rate deal for the North.Pointing to the docks, he says: “That port once traded more than 50% of the world’s trade. We were pioneers in this part of the country. If the government had been serious about levelling up, they would have funded things here, the same as happened in the South for decades.”

A report in 2022, titled “State of the North”, confirmed that, within the 5 years to 2019/20, London acquired the equal of £12,147 per particular person, whereas within the North, it was solely £8,125. Treasury information confirmed that if funding within the North had matched that in London over the 5 years, it could have meant an additional £61billion for infrastructure and expertise.

Don’t get Steve began on rail and the shortage of funding and the scrapping of the northern leg of HS2.

Choosing his phrases fastidiously, he says: “I feel the overall feeling is that individuals are notably ‘peeved’ about being left behind but once more. The solely approach you’re going to stability the nation’s economic system is by the locations with latent potential, like right here, being given the chance to develop.

“I’ve never moaned about the likes of West Midlands and Tees Valley – Tory areas – getting access to Cabinet ministers and getting some additional funding. That’s that’s the world we live in. What needs to happen is that we can have a similar source of access so that we can put our cases forward for investments in our cities for 14 years. Now it will be time for the balance.”

Now 62, Steve fondly recollects being a toddler through the 1966 election victory of Harold Wilson – who knew his dad, Labour councillor Harry Rotheram.

He then speaks about two controversial Tory figures: Margaret Thatcher, and Michael Heseltine who had a special sort of influence on Liverpool.

He speaks warmly of Heseltine, who as Environment Secretary is credited with kickstarting town’s regeneration after the Toxteth riots in 1981. He says: “I like him. A couple of years ago he said he wouldn’t have a frontline job in politics again, other than the Metro Mayor of the Liverpool City Region. I sent him a text and I said, ‘Hezza, keep your hands off my job’.

“He sent me the most glorious response. He said, ‘I can assure you that I cannot foresee the ­circumstances by which I will put my name forward for your role. You may remember this was the same assurance I gave to a certain lady’, meaning Margaret Thatcher. That was class.”

But he describes Thatcher, who Heseltine challenged for the Tory management in 1990, because the “devil incarnate”.

“In the 80s she hated this area. She spoke about not spending the money on the stony grounds of Liverpool and about the ‘managed decline’ of this proud city, once the second city of empire.”

Steve has no intention of managing decline in ­Liverpool. Again looking on the Mersey, he says: “The Industrial Revolution didn’t start in London, you know.

“That river out there has been the lifeblood of our fortune for centuries. That river, through the tide, could change this area and the country’s energy security. The unique shape of the Mersey means that – apart from the River Severn – it’s the best river in the country to be utilised for tidal power.”

He additionally desires to construct a movie business within the metropolis, changing the enduring artwork deco Littlewoods Building right into a TV and movie studio. He declares: “We want to be the ‘Hollywood of the North’.”