Mayor of Liverpool Joanne Anderson has demanded that the government does not bring in further "unsustainable" cuts to council budgets as the creaking local authority prepares to pass the £500m cuts mark since 2010.
Mayor Anderson has written to returning Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove urging him to deliver on the promises his government made to even things up in the country. The city leader was speaking after she revealed that Liverpool Council will be forced to make a further £73m in cuts over the next year - taking these cuts past the half a billion mark in the past 12 years.
Writing about the council's financial position, which she has already described as "untenable", Mayor Anderson said: "As an absolute priority, we need an assurance from government that there will be no further unsustainable cuts to our budget.
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"Local authorities like Liverpool are reliant on Central Government for four-fifths of our expenditure, and we have already been cut to the bone, threatening our ability to deliver front-line services to those who need it most. After twelve years of austerity, there is simply nothing left to cut."
She added: "I also ask that, ahead of a general election, support won’t be reoriented away from councils where the need is greatest in favour of ‘Blue Wall’ councils in the south of England. Indeed, my council will soon pass the threshold where our core funding from Central Government has been cut by a total of £500 million since 2010.
"This lost finance is borne by the poorest in our city and across similar urban authorities. Not only has it seriously depleted our frontline public services, but also held back our ability to support business and infrastructure and drive economic growth locally."
Referring to the Levelling Up agenda of 2019, Mayor Anderson wrote: "Since you were last in this role, we have seen two subsequent Secretaries of State, yet unfortunately are no closer to witnessing any concrete progress following the promises of levelling-up made back in 2019. We are yet to see the wide-spread transformation, redistribution of wealth, equality of opportunity, improved living standards and investment in education, skills and infrastructure that was promised.
"As a matter of urgency, we now need to see action, forward-motion and a positive approach to our regional economies to prove that levelling up is more than just a marketing slogan. As you know, investing in the north will be of huge benefit to the entire country and we can only get there with solid partnership working between local and central government."
She also referenced comments made by new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak this summer in which he boasted to Tory members in Tunbridge Wells that he had worked to divert funding away from deprived areas when Chancellor.
Mayor Anderson said: "I would like some assurance about our new Prime Minister’s commitment to Levelling Up, following his claims in Tunbridge Wells about changing the funding formula to re-direct money away from deprived urban areas to Tory heartlands. Tunbridge Wells is one of the UK’s most affluent towns in one of the least deprived counties in England. A huge number of my residents will this winter be faced with the decision of heat or eat and these comments from a multi-millionaire show a very weak grasp of the reality that millions are facing."
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