Liverpool Mayor Joe Anderson has said he will refuse to implement any more government cuts after it was revealed that a fresh round of pain is planned for the city.

A decade of brutal austerity has left the city's finances in tatters, with £436m wiped from the council's coffers since 2010.

Having just pulled together a further £30m of savings for the latest city budget, news has broken of more planned pain on the way for a city hit harder than any other.

The Local Government Association has forecast that a new government funding formula will impose a further £27m cut to Liverpool's battered budget every year from 2021 onwards.

With services stretched to the maximum in the city, Mayor Anderson has now said enough is enough and told government that he simply won't do their bidding.

(Image: James Maloney)

He told the ECHO: "I will refuse to make any further cuts to our budget because we are now at the stage where doing so will mean closing down vital services that people rely on.

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"We have worked hard under enormous pressure to keep our libraries and children's centres open because they affect the life chances of people in Liverpool, these new cuts would mean losing those services and I'm just not going to do it."

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He added: "This means we are entering a crisis point in the city's history and it will put us on a collision course with the government but we aren't prepared to play their games anymore.

"I will say this now - I will not close any libraries or children's centres in this city, I will not set a budget that cuts any of these vital services.

The strong comments mark a change in the Mayor's approach.

While he has continually campaigned against the government's austerity agenda he has previously focused on finding routes around the cuts via investments and other revenue streams.

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The council says the Mayor's Invest to Earn approach is bringing in an extra £57m to help plug the increasing funding gaps - but that won't cover the further cuts on the horizon.

It is not exactly clear what would happen if the council refused to set a budget in line with the government's orders - and doing so will bring back memories of the rate-capping rebellion of the 1980s.

In practice, it could mean government administrators arriving in Liverpool to force through the cuts.

Mayor Anderson said: "I realise this will put us on a collision course with government but we will have no choice - we will not shut down the services that this city needs.

"If the government want to impose this they will have to come here and try and do it themselves - but they will have a hell of a fight on their hands."

Responding to the Mayor's comments, Liberal Democrat opposition leader Cllr Richard Kemp said: "I believe that the Mayor of Liverpool may well be put in an impossible situation by further Government cuts. Two things however should be borne in mind.

"The original budget deficit for next year indicated that £51 million of cuts would need to be found in fact this was reduced to £31 million, still a lot of money, partly by extra government money.

"The law in this Country is very simple. If politicians do not make cuts or charges to levy a balanced budget the three senior officers of the Council have a legal duty to introduce them instead.

"So a balanced budget will be produced. In September I seconded a motion in full Council which had been proposed by Mayor Anderson which proposed a better way.

"There are huge efficiencies which can be made by joining up all public sector spend in the City, believed to be about £5 billion, in a much better way using the local knowledge of he Council and its partners.

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"We must renew our efforts to convince the Government that the way that public sector money in the city, and nationally, is spent means that money is used as effectively it could be. A 2 or 3% increase in efficiency by pooling budgets would mean better services and cheaper ones.

"That's a case that must be put to the Government before illegalities are talked about".