Labour talks to business in campaign to win city

Mar 15 2008 by David Bartlett, Liverpool Daily Post

LABOUR yesterday stepped up its campaign to capture Liverpool town hall in May’s local elections by attempting to woo the city’s business community.

Culture Secretary Andy Burnham told 100-plus guests at a business breakfast that he wanted to be working with a Labour council after May.

He said Manchester has “stolen a march” on Liverpool, and its success was an example of what could be done when a Labour government and Labour council work together.

He also told the audience at Cafe Sports England, in Stanley Street, that the private sector had its part to play in creating a legacy for Liverpool’s Capital of Culture year.

Labour faces an uphill struggle to prise control of the city council from the Liberal Democrats.

Of the 90 seats on the council, the Lib-Dems currently have 48 councillors and Labour have 36 following the defection of Cllr Beatrice Fraenkel last week.

There is also one Lib-Dem vacancy, so Labour would need to take 10 new seats to gain overall control.

Mr Burnham, the MP for Leigh, said: “The people in this room are together going to take this city forward next year.

“Joe Anderson (Labour leader) is the man I want to be working with taking this city forward.

“I was born in this city but grew up near Warrington. My grandfather drove a lorry for Tate and Lyle round the dock.

“In a couple of months time, I will be cutting the ribbon at Tate Liverpool of the Klimt exhibition.

“That I think is what this is all about, it’s about shattering people’s perceptions of this city – that’s the legacy we have got to build from Capital of Culture.”

He told the audience he thought the Labour government’s big achievement since 1997 was the regeneration of the North.

“It not just about physical regeneration, it’s regeneration of people and their belief in themselves.

“I look at what’s happened on my side of the North West in Manchester. A Labour government, a Labour council – draw your own conclusions.

“When I was growing up, Liverpool and Manchester were equal.

“But Manchester has stolen a march, it got itself moving and Manchester people have got the benefit of that. Labour council, Labour government. Same agenda, same vision.”

He challenged business leaders to contribute to the city’s legacy following 2008.

“What are you going to do to help carry forward next year? What can your organisation contribute to the renaissance of this city? What ideas have you got?”

He singled out the creative industries for praise and said they were likely to grow at double the rate of traditional business in Liverpool in coming years. “I want to be building that legacy with a Labour council, because you can do more when you are working with people who share your vision.”

Mr Burnham’s comments were criticised by Liberal Democrat council leader Warren Bradley who called it an “indictment of Labour Ministers”.

The city has been in a long-running dispute over a desire to sell off assets to help pay for Culture year, a process known as capitalisation.

Cllr Bradley said: “They have accepted they are treating Liverpool differently.

“They have accepted that if we were a Labour council, they would have agreed to capitalisation and they are treating a Lib-Dem council in a different way.

“You would expect better from a minister of state than to make statements like that.”

davidbartlett