LABOUR CONTROL IN LIVERPOOL

That this House condemns the fact that after four years of so-called moderate Labour rule, Liverpool has more than 5,500 council dwellings standing empty, representing misery for thousands of families and a loss in rent of ú4.5 million per year, uncollected rent arrears of ú25 million, rate arrears of ú22 million, absenteeism amongst its workforce the equivalent of 1,200 full-time employees being paid for doing no work for the council at all, has proved so incompetent that it has failed to claim millions of pounds in Government grant, has so little control of its finances that the 1988-89 accounts understated their spending by nearly ú17 million, and has so failed the people of Liverpool that rubbish is piled high in the streets, whilst the two Labour parties bicker about who is most to blame.