Merseyside
Metropolitan county in north-west England: Liverpool, Knowsley, Sefton, St Helens and Wirral.
Merseyside is a metropolitan county in north-west England, created on 1 April 1974 from five boroughs: Liverpool, Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton and Wirral; its county council was abolished in 1986.
Last refreshed: 7 October 2026
Timeline for Merseyside
Mentioned in: Sefton holds £3.2m against £104m deficit
Is Britain Actually Broke?Mentioned in: Labour retakes a St Helens ward
UK Local Elections 2026Mentioned in: NPIF II hits £275m across 449 Northern deals
UK Startups and InnovationMentioned in: UK airdrops supplies to isolated island Andes case
Pandemics and BiosecurityBackground
Merseyside is home to Sefton Council, which shows the sharpest gap in English councils' 2025-26 returns: £3.2m of reserves against a £104m schools deficit, after drawing £28m during the year.
Merseyside is a metropolitan county created on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972. It is made up of five metropolitan boroughs: Liverpool, Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton and Wirral. Its county council was abolished in 1986 under the Local Government Act 1985, so each borough council now runs all local services in its area.
The county also places other Lowdown stories. Wirral's Arrowe Park Hospital isolated British nationals under the Andes hantavirus protocol. Labour retook the Billinge and Seneley Green ward in St Helens from Reform UK on 27 August 2026.