Labour names Joanne Anderson as Liverpool mayor candidate
March 30, 2021, 10:05 am

Labour names Joanne Anderson as Liverpool mayor candidate

Joanne Anderson pledges to build council housing and affordable homes if elected

Councillor would become city’s first black leader and first female mayor if she wins vote

The Labour party has selected Joanne Anderson as its candidate to fight the Liverpool mayoral election on 6 May.

Anderson – no relation to the city’s former mayor Joe Anderson – is a Labour councillor in the city and a business consultant.

Speaking after her selection, she said when she was growing up in Liverpool in the 80s, particularly as a young black woman, the message that she received from Margaret Thatcher’s Britain was that she was “the bottom of the pile” and “wouldn’t amount to much”.

Anderson, 50, beat Anthony Lavelle, 25, another Labour councillor, to the nomination. He said he would campaign on her behalf, to “send a powerful message by electing not only the first female leader, but first black leader too”.

It is the party’s third attempt to select a mayoral candidate after a previous chaotic shortlisting process when the original all-female shortlist was scrapped just before ballots were due to go out to party members last month.

The former candidates, Wendy Simon, Ann O’Byrne and Anna Rothery, all longstanding councillors in the city, were in effect barred from standing again, leading to a failed legal bid from Rothery to be reinstated on the ballot.

The election will fall just six weeks after a damning report found an “environment of intimidation” and a “dysfunctional culture” at Liverpool city council. The newly elected mayor will work alongside government-appointed commissioners for up to three years.

The selection process was triggered when Joe Anderson, who had been chosen to stand again, was arrested in December on suspicion of conspiracy to commit bribery and witness intimidation. He stood aside as mayor and was suspended from the Labour party.

Anderson was held as part of Operation Aloft, an ongoing investigation by Merseyside police into building and development contracts in Liverpool, which has led to the arrests of 12 people, including former council officers.

In a statement, Joanne Anderson said Liverpool was a proud, socialist city. “Last week, our city’s pride was knocked because of the actions of a few,” she said. She committed to drive improvements after the “serious failings” highlighted in the Caller report, placing social value and transparency at the heart of decision making.

She pledged to use the report as a springboard to provide a new, fresh approach, promising to build council housing and affordable homes if elected and regenerate Liverpool in a way that puts communities first.

Joe Anderson denies all charges but decided not to seek re-election in January, saying he did not want to distract from the positives of the city.

According to a report in the Sunday Times, the 63-year-old is taking court action in an attempt to seek public money to fund legal costs linked to his arrest. It is understood that Liverpool council have refused to pay his legal costs and Anderson is seeking a judicial review to overturn that decision.

On Monday, Joanne Anderson said the former mayor’s attempt to use council funds in this way was “both morally and ethically wrong”. She has been backed by Kim Johnson, MP for Liverpool Riverside. As the city’s only black MP, she said she was happy to support a “sister”, who has done “an awful lot of work around race equality and has a good reputation as a hard-working local councillor”.

Joanne Anderson, a business consultant who spent 10 years working for the Crown Prosecution Service on community engagement, has previously discussed facing financial difficulties as a single mother, which led to her claiming bankruptcy twice.

She was elected to represent Princes Park ward in 2019. Her relative inexperience as a councillor may serve her well in the upcoming mayoral battle. The corruption scandal, which revealed that the council may have squandered as much as £100m of public money, will mean that she has to work hard to regain the trust of voters in a city where 70 out of 90 councillors are Labour.

The Labour party has appointed former minister David Hanson to lead an internal review of the issues raised in the Caller report. He will be aided by Judith Blake, former leader of Leeds council.

In May, Liverpudlians will vote to elect a city mayor, local councillors and a metro mayor for Liverpool city region.

Despite praise for how the former mayor had managed the handling of the pandemic, including from the government, a Liverpool Echo poll of thousands of their readers last week found that 69% intended to change their vote in the impending elections after the publication of the council report.

Potential beneficiaries in a city that remains staunchly anti-Tory could be Richard Kemp, the leader of the Liberal Democrats on the council, or Stephen Yip, an independent candidate who runs a children’s charity.

source: Maya Wolfe-Robinson

Levant

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BENEFIT, the Kingdom’s innovator and leading company in Fintech and electronic financial transactions service, held its Annual General Meeting (AGM) at the company’s headquarters in the Seef District.
During the meeting, shareholders approved all items listed on the agenda, including the ratification of the minutes of the previous AGM held on 26 March 2024. The session reviewed and approved the Board’s Annual Report on the company’s activities and financial performance for the fiscal year ended 31 December 2024, and the shareholders expressed their satisfaction with the company’s operational and financial results during the reporting period.
The meeting also reviewed the Independent External Auditor’s Report on the company’s consolidated financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2024. Subsequently, the shareholders approved the audited financial statements for the fiscal year. Based on the Board’s recommendation, the shareholders approved the distribution of a cash dividend equivalent to 10% of the paid-up share capital.
Furthermore, the shareholders endorsed the allocation of a total amount of BD 172,500 as remuneration to the members of the Board for the year ended 31 December 2024, subject to prior clearance by related authorities.
The extension of the current composition of the Board was approved, which includes ten members and one CBB observer, for a further six-month term, expiring in September 2025, pending no objection from the CBB.
The meeting reviewed and approved the Corporate Governance Report for 2024, which affirmed the company’s full compliance with the corporate governance directives issued by the CBB and other applicable regulatory frameworks. The AGM absolved the Board Members of liability for any of their actions during the year ending on 31st December 2024, in accordance with the Commercial Companies Law.
In alignment with regulatory requirements, the session approved the reappointment of Ernst & Young (EY) as the company’s External Auditors for the fiscal year 2025, covering both the parent company and its subsidiaries—Sinnad and Bahrain FinTech Bay. The Board was authorised to determine the external auditors’ professional fees, subject to approval from the CBB, and the meeting concluded with a discussion of any additional issues as per Article (207) of the Commercial Companies Law.
Speaking on the company’s performance, Mr. Mohamed Al Bastaki, Chairman BENEFIT , stated: “In terms of the financial results for 2024, I am pleased to say that the year gone by has also been proved to be a success in delivering tangible results. Growth rate for 2024 was 19 per cent. Revenue for the year was BD 17 M (US$ 45.3 Million) and net profit was 2 Million ($ 5.3 Million).

Mr. Al Bastaki also announced that the Board had formally adopted a new three-year strategic roadmap to commence in 2025. The strategy encompasses a phased international expansion, optimisation of internal operations, enhanced revenue diversification, long-term sustainability initiatives, and the advancement of innovation and digital transformation initiatives across all service lines.
“I extend my sincere appreciation to the CBB for its continued support of BENEFIT and its pivotal role in fostering a stable and progressive regulatory environment for the Kingdom’s banking and financial sector—an environment that has significantly reinforced Bahrain’s standing as a leading financial hub in the region,” said Mr. Al Bastaki. “I would also like to thank our partner banks and valued customers for their trust, and our shareholders for their ongoing encouragement. The achievements of 2024 set a strong precedent, and I am confident they will serve as a foundation for yet another successful and impactful year ahead.”
Chief Executive of BENEFIT; Mr. Abdulwahed AlJanahi commented, “The year 2024 represented another pivotal chapter in BENEFIT ’s evolution. We achieved substantial progress in advancing our digital strategy across multiple sectors, while reinforcing our long-term commitment to the development of Bahrain’s financial services and payments landscape. Throughout the year, we remained firmly aligned with our objective of delivering measurable value to our shareholders, strategic partners, and customers. At the same time, we continued to play an active role in enabling Bahrain’s digital economy by introducing innovative solutions and service enhancements that directly address market needs and future opportunities.”
Mr. AlJanahi affirmed that BENEFIT has successfully developed a robust and well-integrated payment network that connects individuals and businesses across Bahrain, accelerating the adoption of emerging technologies in the banking and financial services sector and reinforcing Bahrain’s position as a growing fintech hub, and added, “Our achievements of the past year reflect a long-term vision to establish a resilient electronic payment infrastructure that supports the Kingdom’s digital economy. Key developments in 2024 included the implementation of central authentication for open banking via BENEFIT Pay”
Mr. AlJanahi concluded by thanking the Board for its strategic direction, the company’s staff for their continued dedication, and the Central Bank of Bahrain, member banks, and shareholders for their valuable partnership and confidence in the company’s long-term vision.