Liverpool City Council call for 'urgent action' from Treasury to help tackle budget crisis

Liverpool City Council is holding a ''special budget-themed meeting'' tonight to discuss what it says is an estimated £57.6 million gap in finances for next year.

The town hall meeting will debate a motion put forward by members of the Labour, Liberal Democrat, Green and Liberal parties which will call for urgent action from the Treasury.

It warns the city's high level of need and poverty means it cannot meet the demand for services from the levels of council tax and business rates that it collects, and notes that its reserves have "now been exhausted, leaving the council with no financial options left".

Today's meeting follows research by the independent Centre for Cities think-tank released in January 2019 which found Liverpool has lost £816 of funding per resident since 2010 - one of the worst levels in the country.

The full text of the motion reads:

A cross-party political working group has already been set up to look at the financial options to close the gap so the council can meet its legal requirement to set a balanced budget in March 2020.

Mayor of Liverpool, Joe Anderson, said: