Liverpool ‘leads way in banging the drum for European Union’

Sep 19 2007 Liverpool Daily Post

LIVERPOOL is leading the way in smashing myths that Brussels is doing nothing for Britain, delegates at the Lib-Dems party conference in Brighton were told.

City councillor Flo Clucas told a fringe meeting that Liverpool insisted on slapping a big sign on any new project funded by European Union money.

Cllr Clucas told the meeting it was EU support that defeated the Government’s attempts to strip Brussels of responsibility for regeneration funding, formerly known as Objective 1. That £2bn of spending over the past two decades has fuelled Liverpool’s renaissance , with £50m alone allocated to the new Arena and Convention Centre.

Cllr Clucas said: “Whenever any new project comes on stream, we don’t have any of those very small plaques that go inside most buildings in the UK.

“We slap a big blue flag on the front that says ‘If you can read this, thank the EU – because the money has come from Europe for this’.”

The city council’s executive member for economic development is one of Britain’s represen-tatives on the little-known committee of the regions, which scrutinises EU legislation.