While everything is changing at the top of the country's politics, the future direction of Liverpool and its elected mayor Joe Anderson could also be heading in a different direction.
A special city council meeting has been called that could begin the process of changing the way the city is governed.
The city's Liberal Democrat group have been allowed to call an extraordinary meeting of the full city council on September 4 which will focus solely on whether Liverpool should abolish the position of elected mayor, held by Joe Anderson since 2012.
If the party's motion passes on that date it will throw the debate to the public in a major consultation process.
This would potentially then be followed by a further meeting before the end of the year where a final vote may decide whether Liverpool continues to have an elected mayor - or moves to a different leadership model.
The Labour party in the city has been carrying out its own consultation on the issue - but Lib Dem leader Cllr Richard Kemp has made his move for fear that it is taking too long.
Cllr Kemp said: “We have waited long enough for the city’s Labour Party to make up its mind on whether to abolish the position or not. We believe that the people of Liverpool should now decide whether we continue with the wasteful and divisive system of the elected mayoralty.
"They were denied a referendum in the first place and were not consulted in any meaningful sense in 2012 when the council dodged a referendum by just 3 days.
"In 2012 the council had only two options allowed by law, a Mayor and Cabinet system and a Leader and Cabinet system. Since then a third option has been allowed which is the creation of a committee system in which the power of the centre is broken and decisions get taken by all councillors through specialist committees.
"Our own preference is this third model because it allows all decisions to be debated properly within an all-Party system rather than being imposed in a way that cannot be contested by a one-Party Cabinet."
He added: "But it is not primarily our decision. We hope that if we succeed at the council meeting, we can then have a proper discussion with the people of Liverpool in time for us to stop an election for a City Mayor in 2020 which alone will save more than £250,000."
Mayor Anderson pointed out that the Lib Dems brought a similar motion to a council meeting last year that was roundly defeated.
He added: "Are we going to do this every year?
He added: "Richard Kemp also stood twice against me in Mayoral elections on a promise to remove the position - and was resoundingly defeated both times - which I think is pretty democratic.
"Before this meeting we will be feeding 120,000 school kids and working out how we find another £25m of savings because of government cuts.
"This is the emergency stuff we have to deal with, but they would rather spend time debating governance models.
"I think it's pretty clear that having an Elected Mayor has raised the profile of the city and helped to get a lot of things done."
The special council meeting will be held from 5pm on September 4 at Liverpool Town Hall.
