Southport MP's West Lancs plan dismissed as "nonsense"

A proposal to effectively move Southport from Merseyside and into West Lancashire has been described as 'unworkable nonsense' after it was revealed that council leaders had already dismissed the idea before it was made public.

 Earlier this week, Southport Conservative MP Damien Moore touted the plan as part of his ongoing campaign against Sefton Council, announcing he'd written to Secretary of State Michael Gove to appeal for Southport to merge with West Lancs. 

 Local Conservatives had previously welcomed ongoing Boundary Commission proposals to carve Ainsdale out of Southport and replace it with four Conservative voting wards from South Ribble. 

 Sefton Council opposed the scheme after Southport councillors Greg Myers and Mhairi Doyle filed a motion condemning the plan. They cited Ainsdale's far stronger ties with Southport than areas such as Hesketh-with-Becconsall or Rufford and were supported by councillors across the political spectrum, except for Conservatives. 

 After a public backlash over the plan, the town's MP has now declared that instead he wants to keep Ainsdale but take it with him to the politically safer ground of West Lancashire, citing his anger at Sefton's claimed "mismanagement". 

 It's a move that has been dismissed by Councillors Myers and Doyle as motivated by little more than political expediency on the part of the Southport MP. Cllr Myers explained:

 "Here we have a group who were quite happy to see the back of Ainsdale, see it just carved off from the rest of Southport simply because it suited their narrow political interest."

"Now after uproar over it, they've apparently suddenly U-turned and decided 'no we'd better keep Ainsdale but let's try to carve Southport off from the rest of Merseyside instead.' Yet again, down to the same narrow political interest."

 "It's all the more baffling when he has already been told by the leader of West Lancashire Borough Council that West Lancs have no interest in such a merger and do not think it viable for a number of reasons, one of which is the loss of free Merseytravel privileges for Southport's older residents."    

 Councillor Doyle continued:

 "It's woolly-headed unworkable nonsense. The MP knows he's on borrowed time here and is simply trying to shore up his position as best he can. Sadly, he doesn't seem to care what division he stokes up to try and achieve that." 

 "I'd rather see him and the Conservatives out of Southport - that's the change we really need locally."

 West Lancashire Labour MP Rosie Cooper has also backed the plan over fears her area was in a "no man's land" between Manchester, Liverpool and Preston and needed to strengthen but it appears to be a non-starter locally with little appetite for the proposal elsewhere.   

 West Lancashire BC Leader, Cllr Ian Moran, confirmed: 

 "West Lancs administration has no interest in merging with Southport. We do not see it as remotely financially viable. We are instead already pursuing a county devolution deal with our Lancashire partners which includes Chorley and South Ribble."

Sefton Labour leader Ian Maher added:

“Damien Moore and Rosie Cooper may well want to raise this again for their own reasons, despite it being rejected out of hand time and again for good reason." 

"My own view on this is led by the question 'what is best for Southport residents?' And my conclusion is that this suggestion would potentially be disastrous for the people of Southport.”

 Residents have until April 4th to comment on the changes actually proposed for Southport by the Boundary Commission here: https://www.bcereviews.org.uk/