A war of words has broken out after a group of Liverpool Labour councillors who defied the whip to vote against the city’s annual budget hit back at comments made by City Mayor Joanne Anderson.
Earlier this month, seven members of Liverpool Council ’s controlling Labour group broke with party lines to oppose the budget set by Mayor Anderson and her cabinet. The so-called rebels, Alan Gibbons, Lindsay Melia, Rona Heron, Alfie Hincks, Joanne Calvert, George Knibb and Alison Clarke, opted to go against the plans that included a new £40 annual charge for green waste collections, a maximum Council Tax increase of 2.99% and cuts to the social care budget.
The councillors were also unhappy at a move to increase the council's reserves by £10m at a time when they said so many in the city are struggling. In a revealing interview, Mayor Anderson said she doubted why those councillors had broken the whip, claiming “some of the things they (the rebels) were talking about just weren't true.”
