The site is shared with Typhoo and Burton's - makers of Jammie Dodgers, Wagon Wheels and Maryland Cookies among others - insists this move will not affect its neighbour, though that is of little consequence to the hundreds of workers who face losing their jobs at a difficult time.

Wallasey MP Angela Eagle has described this as a "devastating blow" for the area, and said although the company has presented this as a proposal their body language during meetings suggested to her they will press ahead with the plan

Late last year council leader Jeff Green, along with chief executive Jim Wilkie and Angela Eagle met with the company to try to convince them to retain the Moreton site.

Word had reached Hamilton Squared that the headhunters had been called off and there was a distinct lack of action in the search for a permanent replacement for Steve Maddox who left last year.

Cllr Jeff Green, leader of the council, said he has received a letter from Secretary of State Eric Pickles confirming he will not calll in the planning application for a public inquiry.

The £4.5 billion scheme is one of the largest planning applications in the country and could transform Wirral's dockland areas.

The press release, below, accuses the ruling coalition of having failed to make decisions quickly enough to deal with the (part known, part assumed) oncoming onslaught of cuts.

It is likely that the Government will front-load its cuts on councils to ensure things seem less severe by the next General Election, assuming Cameron and Clegg stick it out to 2015.

The video below shows how politics creates strange bedfellows with Labour group leader Cllr Steve Foulkes sharing a platform with Alec McFadden, the secretary of Wirral TUC - two men who have had some harsh words to say about each other in the not too distant past.

Although it has to be said it's not that long ago that Alec McFadden was working with the Conservatives over their joint opposition to Wirral's library closure plans.

WIRRAL Council's leader Cllr Jeff Green has launched his blog (www.leaderofwirral.com).

We are told he will be blogging during his current visit to China. I know he will be less than pleased with me for saying this (so, sorry Jeff!) but maybe he will tell us what the hotel accommodation is like...

Although, to be fair he has said he will be contributing towards the cost of the trip which it is hoped will help bring Chinese investment to Wirral Waters.

In a press release, Jeff said: "I've seen how several colleagues keep in touch with their residents through their blogs and have been thinking about doing my own for a while.

"The visit to China seems like the perfect opportunity to start - I promised to report back on how the visit goes and, rather than rely solely on a report to the Cabinet, I think the blog will enable anyone to see what we are doing."

Mr Webb, who joined Wirral Council in 2004 and became Director of Adult Social Services in 2007, has requested early voluntary retirement.

The announcement was made by Wirral's interim Chief Executive Jim Wilkie.

A letter signed by the Lib Dem leader Simon Holbrook and his deputy Gill Gardiner was went out in a council mail run to newly elected Labour councillors urging them to defect.

The Lib Dem leadership's letter, Labour's response, and a notice of motion to the next full council by Labour are in full below the story.

The borough is ranked third most likely to suffer based on analysis of the area's economy and the dependence on how many businesses are vulnerable, levels of insolvency, self-employment, and numbers of exporters.

In an article "Public sector axe falls heavily on the frail" the FT highlights what it sees as the borough's weaknesses in the face of the anticipated cuts in public spending.

The argument has centred on the massive six week consultation to gauge the public's priorities for council services as the authority wrestles with a gaping budget deficit of more than £100 million.

However, if this ambitious consultation is successful - and it is quite a big "if" - it will be a serious step forward for local government in Wirral. It is a major programme with very tight timescales for budget setting. But it is also a significant step in discovering what people want, without the compromises they would make at the ballot box.

The key question, it seems is whether people will accept the "hard" choices such as increased prices for services, even losing some services.

If you haven't seen it, the story was in the Daily Post today.

The rhetoric is neither here nor there, but the debate is needed given the financial problems facing us on a local and national level. Maybe it's just me, but Labour had seemed pretty quiet locally in the aftermath of the election and subsequent formation of the Tory/Lib-Dem coalition (mirroring the national political situation) and I'm glad to see some actino on this front.

Wirral's libraries saga and the Strategic Asset Review were an attempt at dealing with some of these problems, but I'm unconvinced that the problem has changed significantly (so far).