SEFTON Council’s new leader-in-waiting last night vowed to fight “unfair” Government spending cuts.

Labour chief Cllr Peter Dowd, whose party became the largest on the authority after a string of local election successes, will call for a fairer allocation of funding from Whitehall.

The Bootle councillor, widely tipped as a future MP, said the £64m cuts being orchestrated in the borough were “too fast and too soon”.

Cllr Dowd, who will be endorsed as council leader on Thursday, said: “In Sefton the people have been treated unfairly. We have taken a bigger share of the cuts than other areas of the country.

“The £44m of cuts being enforced this year and the £20m set for the next financial year is just too much.

“We will we try to get the figures reversed and we will try and get the government to give us more money.

“We will try and get them to be more fair in their allocation of money. We have to do it in a much more flexible way. The public have spoken and they are not happy with the situation.

“There has to be a fair deal for Sefton and that will be the mantra to the government. We won't just roll-over.”

The Liberal Democrats lost five seats in the borough, ending Cllr Tony Robertson’s long reign as council leader.