Steve Rotheram was born in Knowsley in 1961 as one of eight children. He served as a Liverpool City Councillor in 2002 to represent the Fazakerley ward and as Lord Mayor of Liverpool during the city’s European Capital of Culture year from 2008-2009.
In 2010, Steve was elected as the Member of Parliament for the Liverpool Walton constituency. A bricklayer by trade, he’d set up his own company by the age of 22 and later went on to work in various capacities in the construction industry.
Having pursued qualifications through FE College, he studied full-time at Liverpool John Moores University and started a Master’s Degree in Contemporary Urban Renaissance at Hope University. During this time he was employed as a Business Manager by the Learning and Skills Council.
In May 2017, Steve was elected to become the first ever Metro Mayor of the Liverpool City Region – securing 59% of the vote – on a manifesto that is ambitious, fair, green, connected and that works together.
In January 2018 Mayor Steve Rotheram established a pioneering board to ensure that fairness and social justice inform everything that the city region does.
The Fairness and Social Justice Advisory Board is made up of representatives from across all elements of society, and is the first of its kind in the country. Whilst other UK local authorities have established commissions to look into justice, fairness, poverty and related areas, all of these have produced a one-off series of recommendations and then been disbanded.
The Fairness and Social Justice Advisory Board is the first to exist as a permanent body, providing an independent sounding board, to ensure that issues of fairness and social justice are considered by the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority as a key element of all of its decision-making and policy development process.
