CITY OUTLINES SCALE OF BUDGET CUTS

LIVERPOOL City Council has announced that funding for some services will be cut by 50% over the next 3 years to meet the £156 million of savings required.

The City faces its biggest budget challenge to date, following £173m of cuts already made over the last 3 years. By 2016/17, the City will have seen government funding cut by 56%, in real terms, since 2010/11.

Last month, Mayor Joe Anderson outlined his strategy for dealing with the reductions; by developing a 3 year strategic programme of reductions in funding in order to give some certainty to residents about how services will look in the future.

Today he has announced that all "mandatory" services; those which the City Council is legally required to provide; have been asked to find savings of up to 25%. These include adults and children's social care, environmental health and refuse collection. And those which the Council is not legally required to provide; so-called:- "discretionary" services; such as leisure centres, cultural events and regeneration, have been asked to find budget savings of 50%.

Mayor Joe Anderson said:- "This is really unpalatable and not what I or any of my team came in to politics to do. I know people will be worried about how they may be affected, and the truth is it will impact on every service in the City. The stark reality is that it will mean less of absolutely everything, whether it is libraries, leisure centres, children's centres or social care buildings."

But Mayor Anderson said he is committed to support growth and innovation in the City, to ensure Liverpool's future remains bright and sustainable.

He added:- "Despite the challenges, it is vital we bear in mind there are still an awful lot of good things happening in the City - whether it's the International Festival for Business or the 1,000 new private sector jobs we've helped attract recently through firms such as H2 Energy, BAC Mono, BT and Amey. We are working every single day to bring in more of those investment and employment opportunities. We are also looking at innovative ways of delivering services and dealing with the budget challenges we face. Just in the last few days, we have managed to secure the future of our two pay and play golf courses while saving the £300,000 per year we were spending in subsidies. We achieved this on the same day we launched our new expanded e-library service which is a really cost effective way of ensuring people across Liverpool can access their library service 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Another decision I am really proud of is the purchase of the Cunard Building. In just a few short years that investment will bring an income into the City Council, and that is money we can plough directly back into services for the benefit of everyone. These are the key decisions we are making now which will make our budget process in the future a little brighter."

The City Council recently launched a no-cost social media campaign on Twitter to give residents a greater understanding of the challenges the City faces, how it is allowed to spend its finances and where it currently uses its cash.

Almost 8,000 people have already visited the Council's online budget simulator to look at the issues we face and suggesting where savings should be made. It can be found online and will be available until Friday, 17 January 2014.

Details of the proposals are currently in development and are expected to be announced next month, followed by the City's budget meeting on 5 March 2014.

Labour's Tough Talk on City Bonuses Lacks Credibility

LEADING Greens have been sceptical about Labour's call for the Chancellor to get tough with RBS as the bonus season approaches. The Green Party has long been calling for the Chancellor to use his controlling stake in the bank to require it to operate for the common good rather than in the selfish interest of shareholders. It also has clear policy requiring fundamental reform of the banking sector not a mere tinkering with bankers' remuneration.  Leading Green Party candidate Cllr Molly Scott Cato said:- "With the traditional bias towards defending their friends in the City we would not expect the Tories to take serious action to constrain the worst excesses of the banking sector. But Labour have no such allegiance and so it is disappointing to see them taking such a feeble line. The banking catastrophe is not an example of a failing market that can be saved by a little more competition. Nothing short of determined political action to separate retail and commercial banking and to ban the most destructive types of financial products can protect society from another banking crisis and ensure that this most vital sector works for the common good."  Professor Scott Cato is the Green Party's lead candidate for the South West. If elected she plans to work with Green MEPs Philippe Lamberts and Sven Giegold, who have been instrumental in bringing in the EU-wide bankers' bonus cap and developing strong regulation of the EU-wide banking sector.