Liverpool’s Lib Dem leader urges Mayor to invite Sunak and Gove to visit the city

Liverpool’s Lib Dem Leader, Cllr Richard Kemp has urged Joanne Anderson to invite the new Prime Minister and the re-appointed Secretary of State for Levelling Up to come to Liverpool and see for themselves what the people of the Liverpool are facing.

In his letter to the Mayor, Cllr Kemp said: “These people have no idea of what the people of this City and other areas of deprivation are facing. In a speech in Tunbridge Wells during his leadership election campaign, Mr Sunak made clear that the needs of areas like that needed support more than Liverpool and proposed reductions to areas of the budget which contained some support to those in need.

“Mr Sunak is a rich man worth more than £750 million and has never known poverty or spend his time amongst people who do.

“Mr Gove has unfinished business with the city. In his last incarnation as Cabinet Minister, he received an update letter from his appointed Commissioners in the city. We have yet to receive a final response from the Government which indicates the direction that the Commissioners and the Council must take. At present we are working on assumptions about this which may or may not be true.

The recent decision to award Liverpool the Eurovision contest provides at a lower level the same opportunity to promote the positive values of the city as the European Capital of Culture did 20 years ago. It gives us the opportunity to reset our relationship with a highly sceptical government”.

Cllr Kemp concluded, “Now is the time to be bold and to offer to work with the Government and a range of other partners to not only deal with the problems of the past inflicted by the Joe Anderson regime but also to create a new dawn for Liverpool based on the many positive features and institutions that our city possesses. If they are not prepared to come and see us, we should ask for them to meet an all-Party delegation in London at which we could state our case”.

Mayor of Liverpool, Joanne Anderson, and Liverpol City Council have also been contacted for comment.