In support of the Liberal Party’s motion to the City Council Meeting on 14th January 2015, Green Councillors are calling on the Conservative, Labour and Lib Dem parties to cancel planned cuts to local government funding for next year and beyond. An amendment to the Liberal’s motion will be put forward that will call for a local referendum to increase council tax to partially make up for the below inflation increases of recent years.
Liverpool has suffered the second worst cuts of all UK Councils. Each person in Liverpool has lost the equivalent of £250 in government funding between 2010 and 2013 compared with the average for the UK of £61. In total £156 million has been cut from Liverpool Council’s Budget over that period. The three main parties all plan to continue with the coalition policies of squeezing the funding of services that help the poor.
Leader of the Green Group on Liverpool City Council John Coyne said: “The three main Westminster parties – Tories, Lib Dems and Labour – are all saying that cuts in the pipeline will continue after this year, further crippling the vital council services needed most by vulnerable people. The Green Party in Liverpool needs to work hard now to press for a Labour change of mind on that before the election.”
Since the last general election Council Tax in Liverpool has risen by less than 4% while inflation has risen by over 9%.This means that local authority services in the city are losing an additional £10 million each year. A proposed referendum on a catch-up council tax rise will go some way to restore the council’s revenue base. Councillor John Coyne continued:
“The cuts to services are making people suffer and we must find a way to restore funding. We want Mayor Anderson and local MPs to persuade the Labour Party leadership to restore funding to our vital local services instead of carrying on with the Coalition’s cuts.