Labour takes axe to Sure Start in Liverpool


Fred Dobie, Liverpool

On 14 July I attended a meeting of Liverpool city council’s Education & Children’s Services select committee which was discussing the closures of Sure Start centres in four areas of the city.

With a symphony of wringing hands, councillors peddled the word “heartbroken” as we sat ankle deep in crocodile tears. Heartfelt pleas from parents, users and staff in the public gallery underlined the excellence of the centres and their importance to both the areas they serve and the local economy.

There were also robust contributions pointing out the economic idiocy of training staff to be top of their game only to see them sucked into the private sector as cheap labour. Labour councillors were reminded, to applause and cheers from the public, that they were not elected to make cuts.

The collected evidence will now be scrutinised by the committee.

But, in a very telling development, a resolution was passed by our elected representatives, not condemning cuts outright as we might expect, but asking the Con-Dem government for four years in which to implement the cuts rather than two – a clear indication that Labour are willing to be axe wielders in the butchery!