After the Tories announced a new round of cuts, Liverpool’s Mayor Anderson spoke out and refused to implement them, reports Madeline Heneghan

On the day when the UK’s departure from the EU dominated the national media, the bigger news in Liverpool was Mayor Anderson’s announcement that he will not implement any more government cuts. While Boris Johnson hails a new golden age, it was revealed that under the government’s latest funding structure, Liverpool faces a £27 million cut annually to its already decimated budget.

Anderson is ready to defy the government and must be applauded when he says, “I will not close any libraries or children’s centres in this city, I will not set a budget that cuts any of these vital services.”

The Mayor has strong backing from city councillors. Joanne Anderson, new elected Councillor for Princes Park Ward said,

‘Liverpool really cannot take any more Tory austerity; every avenue has been explored to make up for the shortfall in funding from central government. The council’s back really is up against the wall. Further cuts will devastate vital services with the most vulnerable bearing the brunt’.

The Guardian reported that under the new funding structure £320m a year could be shifted out of councils in England’s most deprived areas while Tory-controlled wealthy shire councils mainly in the south-east are set to gain £300m. This is blatantly the Tories looking after their own while the rest of us pay the price.

The other councils in the city region and those across the country facing the same Tory assaults must unite with Liverpool in refusing to accept this wholly unequal distribution of public funds. Trade unionists, public sector workers, community groups, the arts sector and all who rely on council-funded services must organise and join with Liverpool in saying ‘enough is enough’.