The Nifty 250: News of the day in so many words

LIVERPOOL City Council has run out of grit after using more than 250 tonnes since December 29.

It was forced to borrow 30 tonnes from Wirral last night and today was scratching around to secure a further 30 tonnes.

Assistant executive director Mike Burchnall said the Government was now controlling all stocks and it was trying to bring in more. But the DTI said it was nonsense to suggest it was rationing supplies.

PLANS TO BUILD OVER THOUSANDS OF GRAVES are set to be dropped. The burial site next to St James church, on Upper Parliament Street, was expected to be built upon, but new plans being considered could see a new block being built away from the graveyard. The view to build a new addition to the church is part of an effort to bring St James into use after it closed three decades ago.

POLICE IN MERSEYSIDE ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR OVER £6M in compensation claims in the last four years. The sum has been paid for crashes involving force cars, attacks by officers on the public, false arrests and even slips, trips and falls by police staff.

LIVERPOOL CONSERVATIVES “REGRETFUL” OVER THE SALE of their headquarters after selling it to a businessman who then sold it 40 days later, doubling his money.

The former Churchill Club, in Wavertree, was sold to William Hugh in June 2007 for £590,000, who went on to sell it for £950,000. John Walsh, chairman of the Conservative Party in the North West, said, “What has happened since we sold the building been outside of our control but is, nonetheless, regrettable.”