February
26: Seven right wing councilors (dubbed the sensible seven by
Kinnock and the scabby seven by the Liverpool Labour movement) break
ranks and make their first public statement against council policy.
February 28: 100,000 take action on Merseyside in support
of the GCHQ workers whose trade union had been outlawed by Thatcher.
March: Beginning of miners’ strike.
March 29: Budget day. A one-day strike was called to
support council. Fifty thousand march to the Town Hall to support
the deficit budget proposal. No budget from any party gets a
majority.
May 7: Local elections in which Labour gains seven more
seats. Shortly after Tory minister for the environment Patrick
Jenkin visits the city. Visibly shaken he makes the statement: ’I
have seen housing conditions here the likes of which I have never
seen before’.
July 9: A deal is reached with Patrick Jenkin in which he
makes concessions worth an estimated £60million to the council.
