Sefton Council conservatives and Liberal Democrats accused of putting Southport before Crosby

Mar 11 2010 by Michael Byrne, Crosby Herald

SEFTON Council Labour Group leader Peter Dowd claims South Sefton is suffering while Lib Dem and Tory members play what he calls party politics in Southport.

Cllr Dowd told the Herald he believed that his political opponents are spending far too much time talking about Southport issues when they should be looking at the borough as whole.

He said: “Last week’s cabinet meeting was the first time we had spent some time talking about an issue affecting Bootle for months when we talked about waste collection in high-rise flats.

“Southport is only one-third of the borough but takes up 90 per cent of the council’s time.

“Politics has been distorted between the Tories and the Lib Dems because it is a marginal parliamentary seat.

“That’s all right for them but it’s no good for the rest of the borough. Crosby is the same and it’s not getting any investment.”

Cllr Dowd made the claims after last week’s budget-setting council meeting.

The Labour group opposed the budget after their amendment to stop the council increasing charges to its GP Referral Scheme, used predominantly by South Sefton residents, was kicked out.

The party also called for the council to reconsider increasing the cost of its meals-on-wheels service.

The amendment sparked a row between the parties, with Labour accusing Liberal Democrat and Conservative councillors of being ‘Southport-centric’ – and not acting in the interests of the borough as a whole.

As the vote was taken to pass the budget, Labour leader Cllr Peter Dowd, from Bootle, yelled: “You are all a bunch of sheep. Southport politics!”