Proposed by Councillor Ann McLachlan

Seconded by Councillor George Davies

(1)  Council is outraged but not surprised by the comments made by Ian Duncan Smith where he suggests breaking up “ghettos of unemployment” and moving the unemployed instead into areas across the country where work is more freely available.

(2)  Council is outraged because the policies of this government will increase these “ghettos” by targeting the largest share of cuts on precisely those poorest areas where unemployment is highest.

(3)  Council believes that the Government is fully aware of the fact that where the public sector provides a high proportion of jobs, the public and private sector are co-dependent and any cuts in the public sector will have a direct knock on to the private sector, creating major job losses across a region like Merseyside with little chance of recovery.

(4)  Council is outraged but not surprised that the Tory solution is then to move the unemployed away from their home areas, and their own support networks, which often provide valuable assistance in child care, and mutual support when times are hard, making it even more difficult for them to hold down jobs in a new place, presumably in the overcrowded South East where there is already a major housing crisis. This is simply the old, familiar Norman Tebbit “Get on your bike” Tory philosophy.

(5)  Council roundly condemns this crazy, ill thought out and ugly policy which demonstrates just how far removed from reality the current millionaire, Eton based Cabinet ministers are.

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

Proposed by Councillor Andrew Hodson

Seconded by Councillor Tony Pritchard

Delete all after ‘(1) Council’ and replace with:

recognises the distress, anger and upset caused to people across Wirral, including some of the most deprived communities, by the failure of the previous Government to tackle youth unemployment and the growth in number of people claiming Incapacity Benefit.

(2)  Council notes the difference in real gross value added per capita growth rates between the Greater South East and all other English regions widened towards the end of the last decade.

(3)  Council therefore welcomes the Coalition Government’s determination that all parts of the UK benefit from sustainable economic growth, and that the private sector recovery is particularly strong in areas that are currently overly dependent on the public sector.

(4)  Council also welcomes measures in the Emergency Budget to promote job creation in Wirral and the wider Merseyside economy, including:

·  a reversal of the most damaging part of the planned increase in employer National Insurance Contributions.

·  the creation of a Regional Growth Fund to support increases in business employment and growth, and a scheme in which new businesses in targeted areas will get a substantial reduction in their employer National Insurance Contributions.

·  an increase in the Enterprise Finance Guarantee and the creation of a new Growth Capital Fund.

·  a reduction in the small profits rate to 20 per cent.

·  a planned reduction in the main rate of corporation tax from 28 per cent to 24 per cent.

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

Proposed by Councillor Phil Gilchrist

Seconded by Councillor Dave Mitchell

In paragraph (1) delete “outraged but not surprised by the” and replace with “disappointed by the insensitive”

Delete rest of motion (paragraphs (2) to (5)) and replace with:

(2)  Council is disappointed because it does not reflect the policies and priorities of the Coalition Government and it brings back echoes of the Norman Tebbit “Get on your bike” philosophy, which it rejects as simplistic and insulting to those people out of work through no fault of their own. Council notes the announcement of the £1bn fund to promote private enterprise and support economic recovery in the regions hit hardest by public sector job losses.

(3)  Council also notes that, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility, the deficit reduction plans of the previous Labour Government would, if implemented, have resulted in an estimated 460,000 public sector job losses by 2014-15. Council notes this is only 30,000 less than that projected from the measures taken by the Coalition Government and condemns Labour for their failure to spell out the implications and impact of their own deficit reduction programme.

(4)  However, Council also recognises that the public sector in Wirral provides a bigger proportion of local employment than in other parts of the Country. Council requests that a report is presented to Cabinet on how local people who may lose their jobs may be supported.

Having applied the guillotine in accordance with Standing Order 7(8) the Council did not debate this matter.

The amendment proposed by Councillor Hodson was put and lost (26:35) (One abstention).

The amendment proposed by Councillor Gilchrist was put and lost (14:47) (One abstention).

The motion was put and lost (21:40) (One abstention).