Liverpool Green Party have criticised all five Labour MPs in the city for failing to vote against George Osbourne’s “Austerity Charter” in the House of Commons yesterday.
While some well-known Labour rebels joined Green MP Caroline Lucas, alongside the SNP and Plaid Cymru MPs in voting against the austerity bill, the vast majority of Labour MPs backed the Conservatives and UKIP by voting in favour.
Martin Dobson, Liverpool Riverside candidate for the Greens said:
“Labour MPs are trying to have their cake and eat it. They complain about council budget cuts that are decimating frontline services in our city, but when it comes to a vote in the House of Commons, they back further austerity for the next three years. It leaves our council with very tough choices to make locally.”
One of the motions to be discussed at today’s full council meeting will ask for a rethink in national economic strategy and a focus on redistribution of wealth. A Green amendment will then ask the council to take a decision on council tax to a local referendum as the last remaining option to protect services in the coming year.
Liverpool’s Green leader Cllr John Coyne said:
“The other Westminster parties – Tories, Lib Dems, UKIP and Labour – have now made clear that the 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 do what we can to protect remaining services here.”
“We are calling on local Labour councillors to give voters in Liverpool the chance to save some additional local services through a referendum on a council tax rise. We would campaign alongside them for a “Yes” vote in that referendum, with national political differences set aside for the duration, so we can better protect local services.”
The council will meet at 5pm today, with councillors facing the Save Walton Hall Park campaigners on their way into the Town Hall. The Green amendment is likely to provoke fierce debate with Labour members under pressure to accept a catch up council tax rise after years of freezes and below inflation settlements.