Wirral Council’s Labour leader has accused the local Conservatives of being “a party on the ropes, out of ideas and compassion.”
Councillor Janette Williamson was responding to comments made by Councillor Tom Anderson, leader of Wirral’s Conservative group, which accused Labour of playing party politics.
He said: “I am absolutely flabbergasted that the Leader of the Council and her Labour colleagues voted down all but one of our proposals” and that Labour had come up with “just platitudes.”
However, Cllr Williamson said: “The proposals brought by the Conservative Party called for job losses and raiding vital ring-fenced public health reserves.
"Public health reserves are in place to ensure we are able to respond immediately to health emergencies such as new variants of covid and other infectious diseases. To put the health and safety of the people on Wirral at risk in order to score cheap political points is downright irresponsible. They were the actions of a party on the ropes, out of ideas and compassion.
"Sacking staff and therefore plunging more people into a cost of living crisis, is as short-sighted as it is cruel. The Conservatives’ proposals were nothing more than a stunt and as such was voted against by all other parties on the night.
"Residents are suffering from a Conservative cost of living crisis, and I called the extraordinary P&R meeting with the ambition that all parties on Wirral would work together to help them. Instead, what we saw was opportunistic point scoring from a party who have prioritised headlines for their leaflets over asking their own government for help at a time where people are worried sick about keeping warm, healthy and fed."
The Conservatives at the meeting proposed amendments they claim would free up more than £8.3m in spending. Only one was passed, unanimously, that would see nearly £800,000 go towards residents.
The meeting, held on August 31, featured a fierce debate over whether £5.1m of public health reserves should be used to support residents during the cost of living crisis. Cllr Anderson said Labour were too focused on criticising the government than helping residents.
Councillor Tom Anderson said: “The majority of these proposals were available funds that could have been used to help the most vulnerable in our Borough with the cost of living crisis now.
"Instead, Labour Councillors want to spend time reviewing options in order to spin this issue out for their own political futures. They should be ashamed. I came into politics to make a difference to people’s lives, our proposals would have done just that.
“We as a local council have got this money and it is just sitting there in reserve. All they came up with was just platitudes. What was the point of calling the meeting?”
