Southport out in the cold as Con/Lab pact takes over Sefton Council

11.09.00am BST (GMT +0100) Fri 9th May 2008

Sefton Council now has a Con-Lab pact.

Conservative and Labour councillors have joined forces to oust the Liberal Democrats from leadership of Sefton Council. At last night's dramatic meeting, Conservative councillors voted with the Labour Party to destroy the proportional basis of power-sharing. This brought to an end 22 years of consensus politics that has seen Sefton Council awarded 4-star status.

Sefton's Cabinet had been split 4-3-3 in favour of the Lib Dems, with Liberal Democrat Councillor Tony Robertson being Leader of the Council. This reflected the relative strengths of the parties. After the Lib Dems gaining a Tory seat in the 2008 local elections Sefton Council is now made up of 27 Lib Dem, 21 Labour, and 18 Conservative councillors. A perpetually hung council, seats on Sefton's Cabinet have always been allocated proportionally with the Leader of the Council coming from the largest party.

Conservative Councillors voted for a Labour proposal to reduce Lib Dem representation in the cabinet. They also voted to remove Liberal Democrat councillors from chairing any of the influential Scrutiny and Review Committees.

The Liberal Democrats have always argued strongly for proportional representation in any power-sharing cabinet. As the new Con/Lab alliance on the Council has refused this, the Liberal Democrats are now the opposition group on Sefton Council.

The Tory/Labour shenanigans will leave Southport residents out in the cold, with power in Sefton shifting decisively to the South of the Borough - all 21 Labour councillors come from Bootle. The Liberal Democrats will provide a robust and constructive opposition as Sefton Council moves into new, and uncharted, political waters.

The Liberal Democrats continue to have a majority on the devolved Southport Area Committee, and Southport Lib Dem councillors will continue to fight for residents of the town. Key policies that the Liberal Democrats will continue to work for include:

• job creation through the continuing economic regeneration of Southport

• affordable housing to give our young people somewhere to live

• an accountable local health service

• better recycling facilities

• opposition to Post Office closures

• more independence for Southport, with more decisions made at Southport Area level.