Proposed by Councillor Steve Foulkes

Seconded by Councillor Phil Davies

(1)  This Council condemns the massive cuts in services cavalierly proposed by the Conservative-LibDem led administration without any regard for its consequences.

(2)  Council believes that the loss of £48m from Wirral’s budget in 2011/12 and over 1300 posts, which now includes a further 220 jobs as a result of decisions taken in December, will inflict lasting damage on services for local residents which will take years to repair.

(3)  Furthermore Council believes that the loss of 1300 jobs from one of Wirral’s largest employers, while jobs are also being shed in the private sector, will have a damaging effect on the economy of Wirral as a whole.

(4)  Council contrasts the rightful concern expressed by the Leader of the Council over the consequences of 342 jobs being lost at Burton’s in Moreton with his total disregard for the consequences of his own decision to slash over 1300 jobs from the Council and condemns the double standards this exposes.

(5)  Council cannot accept the ideological Tory, and now Tory/Lib Dem, view that public sector workers, who do not work for profit, are in some way second class citizens, who are unproductive, who do not have families, who do not suffer consequences, who do not contribute to the economy, and who can be dispensed with in a way that would create total uproar if they were a major private employer on Wirral.

(6)  Furthermore, Council does not accept the administration’s ill founded view that none of these cuts will affect front-line services. The list of posts being deleted includes care workers, librarians, youth workers, staff from children’s centres, teachers, and community patrol officers and many others. Any reasonable person would define these posts as ‘front line’ posts, making a major contribution to the well being of our communities.

(7)  Council also condemns the utter incompetence with which the administration has managed these cuts:

·  They carried out a flawed consultation exercise which involved only 1.8% of the population of Wirral and, in spite of the time and expense used to undertake it, yielded only £691,000 out of the £48m of cuts.

·  This consultation had no impact on the largest and most damaging element of the cuts, i.e. the redundancies which accounted for some £24m, yet this administration continues to hide behind it claiming public approval for their actions.

·  They failed to take action early in the year and delayed inviting staff to apply for EVR and voluntary severance until October 2010, when it was too late to manage large scale redundancies in a sensible and measured way, minimising any potential consequences.

·  As a result of this failure, in a desperate attempt to achieve a huge savings target, staff have been allowed to leave the Council’s employment without a proper assessment of the impact on services, without any agreed restructuring in place, and with no knowledge of the financial implications of any restructurings necessary to protect services.

·  To add insult to injury, as a cheap threat to drive staff into taking EVRs, this administration cut the value of any future redundancy package for staff who did not choose to leave now, or who were not allowed to leave, while awarding substantial pay rises to a small number of senior staff.

(8)  Council is further appalled and outraged at the grossly insensitive way in which some of the cuts are being driven through at break neck speed. The failure to consult properly with families and carers of elderly people who use the five care homes which are being closed is totally unacceptable and the Cabinet Member for Adult Social Services should apologise to the residents and their families.

(9)  Council believes that the Cabinet’s decision to extend contracts with the voluntary, community and faith organisations which are due to end in March 2011 by three months pending a ‘review’ is a cynical political move to avoid making cuts in the funding for these organisations until after the May local elections.

(10)  Council condemns the total failure of the Leader of the Council to criticise the Government for decimating local government funding in general and Wirral Council’s budget in particular. Council cannot believe he has remained silent in the face of over £50million in cuts for this year alone. Council also notes that, by cravenly supporting and actively participating in these draconian cuts, the  Deputy Leader of the Council has once again surrendered any claim by the Liberal Democrats to be a progressive party.

(11)  Finally, Council condemns the decision of the administration to suspend the Council’s constitution at the Council meeting on the 13th December in order to avoid having to refer cuts which did not have all party agreement to the relevant scrutiny committees for further consideration. This attempt to silence opposition to the cuts, or prevent any moves to reduce their impact,  will not succeed and Council recognises the right of the Labour opposition to represent the views of growing numbers of Wirral residents who wish to see an end to the policies of the Tory-LibDem coalition both nationally and locally.

Amendment submitted in accordance with Standing Order 7(2).

Proposed by Councillor Simon Holbrook (7 minutes)

Seconded by Councillor Phil Gilchrist (3 minutes)

Delete all after ‘This Council’ and replace with:

(1)  recognises that the previous Labour Government led by Gordon Brown left the country with the worst national debt since the Second World War and that in their last year of office, Labour borrowed a quarter of everything they spent, a staggering £160 billion.

(2)  Council notes that arising from Labour’s legacy of debt and failure, the Coalition has made deficit reduction a priority to restore the finances of the Nation, and that this in turn has resulted in a difficult financial settlement for local government.

(3)  Council notes that the projected deficit in Wirral’s finances has risen from around £70 million over three years when Labour were in Government, to around £115 million over four years under the Coalition, but is greatly concerned at the front loading of these budget reductions and recognises that this has created severe and unnecessary difficulties for all local authorities in planning the required changes to their services. Council supports the work of the LGA in seeking further resources to support the vital services provided by local government.

(4)  Council commends the approach to this challenge taken by the Council’s Cabinet: 

·  by engaging with the public to establish the people’s priorities, through the ‘Wirral’s Future – be a part of it’ consultation;

·  through the rescue and re-invigoration of the Change Programme; and

·  the timely action to offer generous early retirement and voluntary severance packages.

(5)  Council notes that these strands came together in the Cabinet resolution of 9th December, which was supported by Council on 13th December to deliver £48m of budget savings, whilst protecting front line services and without compulsory redundancies.

(6)  Council contrasts this with the approach advocated by the Labour Party, which has at the same time accused the Cabinet of both being too slow and too hasty in implementing change.

(7)  Council condemns the dismissive approach of the Labour Group to consultation, and their arrogant ‘Decide – Announce – Defend’ approach to decision making.

The amendment was put and carried (41:22).

The motion as amended was put and carried (41:22).

Resolved (41:22)  -

(1)  This Council recognises that the previous Labour Government led by Gordon Brown left the country with the worst national debt since the Second World War and that in their last year of office, Labour borrowed a quarter of everything they spent, a staggering £160 billion.

(2)  Council notes that arising from Labour’s legacy of debt and failure, the Coalition has made deficit reduction a priority to restore the finances of the Nation, and that this in turn has resulted in a difficult financial settlement for local government.

(3)  Council notes that the projected deficit in Wirral’s finances has risen from around £70 million over three years when Labour were in Government, to around £115 million over four years under the Coalition, but is greatly concerned at the front loading of these budget reductions and recognises that this has created severe and unnecessary difficulties for all local authorities in planning the required changes to their services. Council supports the work of the LGA in seeking further resources to support the vital services provided by local government.

(4)  Council commends the approach to this challenge taken by the Council’s Cabinet: 

·  by engaging with the public to establish the people’s priorities, through the ‘Wirral’s Future – be a part of it’ consultation;

·  through the rescue and re-invigoration of the Change Programme; and

·  the timely action to offer generous early retirement and voluntary severance packages.

(5)  Council notes that these strands came together in the Cabinet resolution of 9th December, which was supported by Council on 13th December to deliver £48m of budget savings, whilst protecting front line services and without compulsory redundancies.

(6)  Council contrasts this with the approach advocated by the Labour Party, which has at the same time accused the Cabinet of both being too slow and too hasty in implementing change.

(7)  Council condemns the dismissive approach of the Labour Group to consultation, and their arrogant ‘Decide – Announce – Defend’ approach to decision making.