A WAR of words broke out last night between civic leaders in Liverpool and Southampton over sharing the cruise industry.

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To sign the petition or get involved in the campaign, see the links at the foot of the article.

Liverpool City Council leader Joe Anderson, in the Liverpool Daily Post, labelled Southampton “selfish”, “greedy” and “scared of losing their monopoly” of the lucrative trade.

Mr Anderson also told the paper his offers of a face-toface meeting over his city’s plans to carve a slice of the cruise business had been snubbed because the city was “scared of the debate”.

But Southampton City leader Royston Smith dubbed the proposed meeting a “publicity stunt” and vowed to fight the prospect of tens of millions of pounds migrating to the Mersey.

Business leaders and cruise ports across the UK are calling on the government to reject permission to allow cruise ships to start and finish from Liverpool’s £21m taxpayer- funded Pier Head terminal.

They argue that using public money to build the privately run facility and allowing it to be used for the “turnaround” cruise trade is unfair competition.

The previous Labour government upheld this view, but now Liverpool port bosses have launched a fresh bid, offering to pay back just £5.3m of the public money over 15 years.

In a letter to the Liverpool leader, Councillor Smith argued the proposed meeting appeared to be a “publicity stunt”.

Nearly 2,000 people have signed a petition urging ministers to deny permission, as part of a campaign by the Southampton-based UK Cruise Port Alliance. A Department of Transport consultation on whether to grant permission ends on September 15.

How to get involved

• Sign the petition
• Download template letter of rejection
• Download a petition form
• UK Cruise Port Alliance on Facebook
• DfT Consultation