2021 Meet The Candidates – David Newman

Through lockdown, many of us have been juggling working from home with home schooling children and worrying about our elderly relatives; I’m a foster dad, so know only too well how difficult it has been. Some people have also lost their jobs, and yet Sefton Council have taken no notice of people’s circumstances and still increased the Council Tax.

As a former Managing Director at Zurich Financial Services, I will use my experience of successfully controlling multi-million pound budgets to instil a culture of financial prudence to get a fairer deal for residents of Dukes ward and Southport.

A wholescale overhaul of Sefton Council finances is required.  If elected, I’ll be asking the awkward questions; I know how to interrogate accounts and highlight the extent of ineptitude within the public finances.

I will fight to:

  • slash financial waste by seeking efficiencies, whilst maintaining high quality frontline services;
  • ensure cycle lanes are only implemented with full community support after meaningful public consultation;
  • prevent the never-ending increase of Council Tax year after year;
  • invest in our neglected town centre instead of pouring millions of our money into Bootle;
  • take back control of our own affairs by bringing decision making back to Southport.