Wirral Conservative Councillors stood shoulder-to-shoulder with local shopkeepers, publicans, café owners and market traders by forcing a crunch vote on Labour and the Greens’ devastating car parking charges policy.
We tabled a clear, common-sense motion:
🔹 PAUSE the charges immediately
🔹 Launch a FULL independent review before hammering families and killing trade
🔹 Listen to the thousands of residents and businesses begging for this madness to stop
The result could not have been starker:
✅ CONSERVATIVES & LIBERAL DEMOCRATS voted FOR protecting jobs, shops and our high streets
❌ LABOUR & GREENS voted AGAINST – they want to press ahead with charges that even their own officers admit will:
• Cost taxpayers an extra £500,000+ in borrowing
• Drive shoppers to Cheshire Oaks, Liverpool ONE or Amazon
• Hammer independent retailers in the vital run-up to Christmas and beyond
Cllr Andrew Gardner said immediately after the vote:
“Labour and the Greens have tonight sent a crystal-clear message to every small business owner in Wirral: ‘We don’t care if you go under.’ They’d rather virtue-signal about ‘behaviour change’ than stand up for the people who pay their wages. Well, the Conservatives will never stop fighting for you. This parking tax is reckless, regressive and downright cruel – and we will keep battling until it’s scrapped.”
Cllr Cherry Povall added:
“These charges are due to hit drivers in a matter of weeks – right in the middle of the busiest shopping period of the year. Tonight Labour and Green councillors looked local traders in the eye (via the webcast) and said ‘tough luck’. That’s not leadership. That’s betrayal. We’ve got your back and we’re only getting warmed up.”
The fight is FAR from over.
We’re taking this battle to every high street, every market stall and every doorstep across Wirral.
Local Greasby, Frankby and Irby Campaigner, David Fairbairn stated:
"To every independent retailer, bar owner, hairdresser, butcher, baker and café hero: Wirral Conservatives are 100% behind you. Sign the petition RIGHT NOW and send Labour & the Greens the loudest possible message:
#NoParkingTax"
PETITION LINK: https://www.wirralconservatives.org.uk/campaigns/petition-free-parking-wirral-0
Wirral deserves thriving town centres, not tax-grabbing vandalism from a tired Labour/Green administration.
