Daily Post says..

YOU could not make it up really: Liverpool will be the major city most affected by the government spending cuts.

It seems we are either up or down: riding on the crest of a wave as European Capital of Culture and the only city to be represented at the World Expo in Shanghai.

But no sooner than it seems the bad times are finally behind us, along comes the recession and the banks bail-out which has wrecked the country’s financial reserves and, by association, public spending.

Between 7,900 and 10,600 public sector jobs will disappear in Liverpool over the next five years.

The Centre for Cities think tank concludes that LIverpool and Wirral will lose almost £200 per resident, which is, shockingly, double that of Oxford, near to prime minister David Cameron’s constituency.

Let us hope the government responds to the think tank’s calls for a new action plan to help the region.

One such initiative which would help financially is for the government to give the go-ahead for cruise liner turnarounds at Liverpool Pier Head, as championed by this paper with our Get On Board campaign.

As Liverpool City Council leader Cllr Joe Anderson has reached an agreement in principle to repay the EU grant used to build the cruise terminal, surely the government can now accelerate its decision to lift the ban on turnarounds?

This would allow a thriving private sector, the worldwide cruise industry, to start building a base in Liverpool.

Who knows, instead of being once infamously branded the national basket case, Liverpool could become the Tory template for self-help, private sector Britain.