Conservatives Vote Against Labour Tax Hikes & Propose Southport Pier Support

At the recent Sefton Council budget meeting, held at Bootle Town Hall, another 4.99% increase in Council Tax was voted through by Labour councillors, increasing it by the maximum amount possible.

Conservative Leader on Sefton Council, Mike Prendergast, slammed the latest Labour tax rise which will put more pressure on already stretched household budgets. The latest rise means that since Labour have run Sefton Council, Council Tax will have gone up by around 48% and those in Band D properties will now have to pay around another £100 per year in Council Tax.

Councillor Prendergast said, “This latest Council Tax rise will be a kick in the teeth for residents across Sefton who are being asked to pay for the incompetence and shocking decisions that have been made by Labour over more than a decade.”

“Many vulnerable groups across Sefton have already been punished by the Labour national government, with almost 56,000 pensioners losing their Winter Fuel Allowance, and now Sefton Labour are following their lead by increasing taxes locally. All of this is a direct consequence of decisions made by Labour.”

“Massive overspending in Children’s Services, with over £250 million spent since April 2022, huge sums wasted on speculative property developments like Bootle Strand and Sandway Homes and a hospitality company that loses money hand over fist are just a few examples of the shocking decisions taken by Labour which Sefton residents are now being asked to pay for.”

“No one should be under any illusion, every budget is a political choice and Labour have, once again, chosen to make hard working families across Sefton pay for Labour’s mistakes.”

At the meeting, Conservatives put forward an amendment to the budget that would have seen around £500,000 allocated towards the refurbishment of Pier and a budget of £172,000 per year towards the ongoing maintenance.

All Labour councillors present voted against these measures and a number of Liberal Democrat councillors did not support them either.

Commenting Councillor Prendergast said, “The proposals we put forward to support Southport Pier were fully costed and simply involved removing 2 positions that have been vacant for 12 months or more and the scrapping of 2 EDI positions.”

“As ever, Labour councillors voted against measures to support Southport Pier and a number of Southport Liberal Democrat councillors did not support the measures. It was disappointing to learn afterwards that the Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader has described our amendment as “dog whistle politics” yet his own leader voted for the measures, describing them as “sensible”, along with 4 other Lib Dem councillors.”

“It is imperative that Sefton Council takes measures to help itself to get Southport Pier back open. There is no white knight coming to save us with a bag of cash, we must help ourselves. The division in other local parties makes it clear that it’s only the Conservatives in Southport and across Sefton who are willing to make the difficult choices to deliver for our local residents and businesses.”