Guardian letter in defence of Militant-led Liverpool council

The following letter was published in the Guardian on 16.8.16 from former Liverpool councillor and Liverpool Socialist Party member Tony Mulhearn in response to John Hoggart's attacks on the record of Militant-led Liverpool council in the 1980s.

John Hoggart believes Liverpool's Militant-led socialist council left a disastrous legacy and Thatcher had us on a string (Letters, 15 August). Is that why the Iron Lady conceded millions to the city - the only one to gain anything from that government? Is that why Liverpool became the object of a hysterical hate campaign, similar to the current anti-Corbyn campaign, against a single city by the forces of the establishment, with Murdoch's Sun, Maxwell and Kinnock spearheading the poisonous attack?

We built 5,000 new houses and six sports centres, cancelled thousands of redundancies, opened six new nursery schools and created thousands of real jobs, from which the youth benefited. That's why demonstrations of up to 50,000 marched through the city, and we received the largest council votes ever recorded. Some disastrous legacy!

Tony Mulhearn, Liverpool

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