EVEN though it was half expected by those with their ears to the ground, the decision by the Government to refuse Liverpool permission to upgrade the cruise liner terminal will have come as a bitter disappointment.

It all smacks of government lawyers wanting to play this absolutely by the book, rather than actively looking for ways in which Liverpool’s request can be accommodated within the rules that allowed European money to help pay for the project.

This kind of thinking from certain departments in Whitehall has become all too familiar to those dealing with European legal matters. It probably explains why those at the Liverpool end have been able to move on so quickly to the next stage in the fight to have the terminal used as it should be, as a start and finish point for cruises serving the whole of the north of England and a large part of the Midlands.

And it is a fight, make no doubt about it. Not necessarily with Southampton, which does a perfectly good job of serving the cruise liner demands from the South and the South-West, but with block-headed government officials seemingly incapable of advising a minister that there may well be alternatives – such as the suggestion that the terminal might be designated an essential part of Liverpool’s transport infrastructure.

The mere fact that Paul Clark’s decision has made bed-fellows of the Lib-Dems and Labour on Liverpool City Council, plus the Tories’ shadow minister for Merseyside, should be enough to make those at the Department of Transport stop and pause.

If the worst comes to the worst, perhaps it still may be best to repay the £9m in Euro-support and have done with it. Whatever the method used, Liverpool and the Mersey need that terminal.