Liverpool Lib Dems call out Labour’s new cuts

The next Liverpool Full Council meeting is set on Wednesday and it is clear that the Opposition Parties are chomping at the bit to call out the new Labour Government.  

The Liberal Democrats have put forward a motion calling on Liverpool City Council to vote to retain Single-Person Discount for Council Tax. This comes after the Deputy Prime Minister failed to rule out that Labour wouldn’t scrap it as well as part of their “new austerity agenda”. 

The motion points out that many vulnerable people - like pensioners and single parents - rely massively on the 25% reduction in council tax. If Labour goes ahead with this they would push these residents to the brink with their bills rising by a third of their current cost, and then face a further annual increase. 

Nationally, scrapping the discount would affect 8 million households across the country, particularly in the North. In Liverpool, the Lib Dems estimate that such a change would impact around 90,000 households in Liverpool, resulting in an average increase of £605. 

The Winter Fuel Allowance motion from Liverpool Community Independents is also being supported by Liverpool Liberal Democrats, with them adding more detail regarding the impact the cut will have on Liverpool. 51,824 pensioners in Liverpool will lose out on the £300 payment this winter.

On Tuesday 10th September, only Liverpool West Derby MP Ian Byrne joined the Lib Dems in voting against the Government's cut to Winter Fuel Payments that Labour has steamrolled through. Walton’s Dan Carden voted with the government but the Riverside, Wavertree and Garston MPs were all absent for the vote with Kim Johnson saying she had a dentist appointment.

Cllr Cashman said,”First, it was not scrapping the two-child cap, now it’s the winter fuel payments, the question is what’s next? For old and young, it feels like Rachel Reeves and Keir Starmer are set on making your life miserable and taking away money from pensioners that have worked hard their whole lives.

“I’m glad that whether it’s in Liverpool’s Town Hall or the Houses of Parliament, it’s the Liberal Democrats who are holding Labour to account, who are calling out their new austerity agenda, and who are standing up for people in society. From single parents to unpaid carers, the Liberal Democrats on the side of those that Labour have turned their back on and left behind.”