When The Cuts Hit Home

A cynical view of yesterday's delegation from Liverpool to Westminster which lobbied the Tory Education Secretary Michael Gove over the local impact of the ConDem cuts in the BSF (Building Schools for the Future) programme would be that it's designed to look good in the local press. As far as effective lobbying is concerned, it's a non-starter; the government is deaf to the pleas of local authorities. Now if you were a bank or an oil firm, well, that might be different.
Among yesterday's delegation was Lib Dem councillor for Cressington ward, Paula Keaveney. Cllr Keaveney has blogged about it, downplaying the fact that her own party is just as enthusiastic about the bleeding stumps approach as the Tories (http://paulakeaveney.blogspot.com/2010/07/schools-delegation-to-london.html ).
Indeed, so keen is Cllr Keaveney to put the best possible gloss on a grim situation that she trills:
"There are two new academies --one in South Liverpool-- waiting for news about their building funding situation. They are in a slightly different situation as they weren't included in the earlier BSF announcement. The minister said we should hear about this very soon. So watch this space."
Yes, watch this space, indeed. It'll be interesting to see if Cllr Keaveney blogs in response to the likely thumbs-down message from the education department over the two academies.
Cllr Keaveney unsuccessfully stood against Warren "War Zones" Bradley for the Fib Dem leadership after the local elections. Like Bradley, she, too, is aware that the ConDem coalition spells disaster for the local party (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10573767 ).