27 Facts About Steve Rotheram

Steven Philip Rotheram was born on 4 November 1961 and is a British politician serving as Mayor of the Liverpool City Region since 2017.

Steve Rotheram earned a Master's degree in Contemporary Urban Renaissance from Liverpool Hope University and worked as a business manager for the Learning and Skills Council.

Steve Rotheram was elected to represent Fazakerley for Labour on Liverpool City Council from 2002 to 2011, and served as Lord Mayor of Liverpool from 2008 to 2009.

Steven Philip Rotheram was born in Kirkby on 4 November 1961, the son of housewife Dorothy and forklift driver Harry Rotheram.

Steve Rotheram has seven siblings and attended Ruffwood School in Kirkby.

Steve Rotheram's parents divorced when he was a teenager, which Rotheram later partly attributed to his father's absences caused by his devotion to his political career.

Steve Rotheram left school at the age of 16 to become a bricklayer, setting up his own company at the age of 22.

Steve Rotheram spent eight months rebuilding war-torn infrastructure in the Falkland Islands in 1983, an experience he did not enjoy.

Steve Rotheram worked as a business manager for the Learning and Skills Council for many years after graduating.

Steve Rotheram was elected to represent Fazakerley as a Labour Councillor for Liverpool City Council in the 2002 election.

Steve Rotheram later served as Lord Mayor of Liverpool from 2008 to 2009, which coincided with Liverpool's period as European Capital of Culture.

At the 2010 general election, Steve Rotheram retained the seat with a comfortable majority of 19,818.

In October 2011, Steve Rotheram joined the Culture, Media and Sport Committee where he asked James Murdoch if he would close The Sun newspaper following the News International phone hacking scandal in 2011.

In October 2011, Steve Rotheram gave an emotional speech to the House of Commons where he read out the names of all 96 Hillsborough disaster victims so they would be recorded in Hansard, and called for the release of all government papers relating to the disaster.

In September 2012, along with members of The Farm, Mick Jones, and former Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish, Steve Rotheram helped organise a number of artists to record a cover of "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" as "The Justice Collective", in an attempt to become Christmas UK number one and keep the Hillsborough justice campaign in public awareness and raise money for families' legal costs.

Steve Rotheram was one of 16 signatories of an open letter to Ed Miliband in January 2015 calling on the party to commit to oppose further austerity, take rail franchises back into public ownership and strengthen collective bargaining arrangements.

Steve Rotheram was the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn's Parliamentary Private Secretary.

In 2016, Steve Rotheram said he intended to stand for the Labour nomination to become Liverpool City Region mayor in the 2017 mayoral election, and was selected as the Labour candidate in August 2016.

In December 2022 Steve Rotheram stated that he hoped the tidal power project could be generating electricity by the end of the decade.

Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, Steve Rotheram accepted a deal with the British government in October 2020 to place the Liverpool City Region under Tier 3 restrictions, following a sharp rise in cases across northern England.

On 6 October 2023, Steve Rotheram delivered on a key manifesto pledge and voted to end 40 years of bus deregulation in the Liverpool City Region, using the powers in the Bus Services Act 2017 to bring services back into public control.

In November 2023, Steve Rotheram spoke of his frustration at the roll out and criticised train manufacturer Stadler and demanded immediate improvements for passengers and later announced a package of compensation for the most affected passengers and a fare freeze across the Merseyrail network.

Steve Rotheram was joined by Baroness Judith Blake and Sir Howard Bernstein and set out three keys priorities for the city rebooting Liverpool's regeneration, 21st century public service reform, and turbocharging the innovation economy.

In February 2023, Steve Rotheram announced his intention to stand for a third term as Mayor and was re-selected unanimously as the Labour candidate in March.

Steve Rotheram was re-elected at the 2024 Liverpool City Region mayoral election.

In 2024, Steve Rotheram co-authored Head North: A Rallying Cry for a More Equal Britain with Manchester's metro mayor Andy Burnham.

Steve Rotheram is points out that the book was ghostwritten by Liam Thorp, political editor of the Liverpool Echo, "the most senior local journalist tasked with holding [Rotheram] to account".