Liverpool City Region General Election 2019 Results

THIS year has been a very unusual year for our country's Politics. The Elections back in 2017 had Southport turning from a LibDem stronghold to Conservative, making it 1 of only Tory 2 seats within the Liverpool City Region, and the only Merseyside seat not won by Labour. We selected Southport as our base to watch as it was a direct 3 way race between the 3 main political parties, anything could have happened... Especially as Labour was fighting strongly to win the seat and it was billed in the national media as a major swing seat, but as the votes came in to the Count, it was clear it was going to be a safe Blue win. The LibDem vote was annihilated and Labour's hopes of winning the seat for the very 1st time, were shattered. But Labour has really changed the Political landscape in Southport by knocking the LibDems so far down. Unlike most of the UK, the rest of the Liverpool City Region bucked the national trend, with Labour wins. But both existing Conservative seats remained. Elsewhere, the Conservatives gained in many other Labour heartlands. Some have put this down to the fact the Liverpool is still strongly supportive of the European Union, also many of its inhabitants feel they have been unfairly neglected by a string of Conservative Governments. The area has been hit hard by the loss of the Region's industry and has been upset that they did not get included in HS2. Add to this, the legacy of the Hillsborough Disaster and results of the recent Court Case. This legacy and the fact Liverpool has received the biggest impact of Government cuts has made the area toxic for the Tories. All that looks as if it has contributed to The Conservatives being almost an endangered species in Liverpool. But what has shocked many, is the fact LibDems have not been able to capitalise on this electoral battleground and come away with more. Yet, it is not as surprising when you look at tactical voting. It makes what wonder what might have happened across the country, if a genuine proportional voting system pertained and people could feel that a minority vote would not be wasted. Southport was very Brexit orientated, perhaps because of its older population, many of whom have moved in to the area to retire from the South, in contrast with other local areas which tend to have a younger population and have more people affected by the cuts. It is worth pointing out that the only change with the LibDems nationally is in Scotland, with the loss of their leader, Jo Swinson's seat, to the SNP. However, the total LibDem vote did rise across the country. That does raise the question if tactical voting was more to blame for the bad performance of the party than Jo Swinson having said that she would, in effect, ignore the result of the 2016 EU referendum if she were to become Prime Minister. Conservative Party's Damien Moore has been duly elected as the Member of Parliament for Southport, Merseyside, thus becoming the only Merseyside MP to be a member of the largest majority party in over 30 years. This could prove to be a huge advantage for the area. So what are your thoughts to this result? Are you shocked? We ran a 'follow up' survey on Twitter, asking:- "Will the UK regret the General Election results, like a bad hangover the morning after a ruckus Christmas Party?" The result was quite interesting:- 70% said:- "Yes Definitely," 15% saying:- "No, definitely not!" and 15% saying:- "Who knows? Time will tell." Please do let us know what you thought of the elections and the fall out by emailing us at:- News24@SouthportReporter.Com.

General Election 2019 - These are the results of the votes declared as follows for the Liverpool City Region:-
Area	Winning Party	Area	Winning Party
Southport		Liverpool Wavertree
Sefton Central		Liverpool West Darby
Bootle - Labour Knowsley		Wallasey - Labour Knowsley
St Helens North		Wirral West
St Helens South and Whiston		Wirral South
Halton		Ellesmere Port and Neston
Garson & Halewood		Warrington South
Liverpool Riverside		Warrington North
Liverpool Walton

Below is footage of the Conservative Party's Damien Moore being duly elected as the Member of Parliament for Southport, Merseyside.

Below is footage of the speeches by the other 2 Southport Candidates after results announced for the Southport seat.

Interview after win, with the elected MP Damien Moore just after being re-elect.

We hope you liked the photos, but please, don't copy them.  Please help us to keep our copyright intact and help us to keep this online  newspaper live. Click on here to find out how you can order copies of these photos.

Our Twitter survey had 367 impressions and 16 total engagements, with 27 votes.

'Foolish' and 'negligent' landlord hit with substantial fine

A company has been labelled:- 'foolish' and 'negligent' by a Judge and hit with costs totalling more than ₤11,000 for failing to license a huge portfolio of properties in Liverpool. Roach Estates and Property Management Limited, in Duke Street, Southport, was charged with failing to license 29 properties, as part of the City's Landlord Licensing scheme, and found guilty in its absence, back in October 2019.  During the sentencing hearing, on Thursday, 12 December 2019, District Judge Wendy Lloyd heard how the properties, located throughout the City, had remained unlicensed for substantial periods of time, meaning that the Council's role, as a regulator, in ensuring miniMum standards in terms of:- gas, fire and electrical safety was undermined and had potentially put the tenants at risk. Judge Lloyd commented that the company's culpability was:- 'high' and it had acted 'foolishly' and 'negligently' in failing in its duty to license the properties during the relevant offending periods and left tenants potentially vulnerable to adverse conditions. They were fined ₤8,700, plus costs of ₤2,458.22 and a victim surcharge of ₤170.

Liverpool City Council's Deputy Mayor and Cabinet Member for Housing, Cllr Lynnie Hinnigan, said:- "The landlord licensing scheme is vital in delivering better conditions for tenants in privately rented properties and making sure they are not at risk from things such as:- dangerous electrics, faulty gas appliances or a lack of fire doors. The vast majority landlords are working positively with us, but some are still wilfully ignoring the law. Where we find evidence that landlords are blatantly ignoring the rules we will take them to court and, as in this case, they risk a hefty fine."

Liverpool's Landlord Licensing scheme began in 2015 with the aim of improving standards in the private rented sector, and so far 49,000 licences have been issued. Around 20,000 compliance actions have been carried out, with 70% of inspected properties found to be in breach of their licence conditions, more than 2,000 legal and fixed penalty notices have been issued and over 150 landlords prosecuted. Tenants and members of the public can check if a property has the required Landlord Licence online and report unlicensed properties to:- Unlicensed.Landlord@Liverpool.Gov.UK.  A bid to renew the scheme for another 5 years from April 2020 has been submitted to the Government.