Joanne Marie Anderson (born 7 January 1971)[1] is a British Labour Party politician who served as the second and final directly elected Mayor of Liverpool from 2021 to 2023.
[3] Anderson left school at 16 with no qualifications, but completed a degree in Business Studies as a mature student.
[4] She was elected as a councillor for the Princes Park ward in a by-election in October 2019 with 73% of the vote,[6][7][8] and has served on the Education and Children's Services Select Committee.
[6][10][14] She is the first black woman to be a directly elected Mayor in the UK[14][15][16] and vowed to develop a strategy supporting ending violence against women and girls[17] and implement the recommendations of the Caller Report, which highlighted "serious failings" in the city council's leadership.
Despite public support for the Mayoral model, the council voted to scrap the role and move to a leader and cabinet system.