Liverpool Pride organisers and Liverpool City Council have smashed rumours today that the festival is in jeopardy.

Speaking to Seen Magazine following the rumours, James Davies of the Liverpool Pride Board said: “There have been some inaccurate reports claiming that Liverpool City Council confirmed they are giving Pride no finding for the 2011 festival.

"We recognise the difficult budget that Liverpool has had to set, but we're working with the council and commercial sponsors to hold Liverpool Pride on August 6th."

Facebook was littered with comments last night (Wednesday) about the festival receiving no funding. “Although we don’t yet know for certain if Liverpool City Council can fund some of the event we are in talks with officers,” James added.

“This does give us a good opportunity to highlight the fact that Pride is a charity though, and that we do need funding from wherever we can get it, so if there are any businesses out there that would like to seize the opportunity to get involved we would love to hear from you.”

Last year, Liverpool Pride saw 21,000 people descend upon the gay quarter to celebrate in style in a Rainbow Circus themed event. This year, organisers are confident of a 25,000 turnout.

A Liverpool City Council spokesperson said: “We funded last year’s Liverpool Pride through Area Based Grants, but these have now been scrapped. We’re facing £91 million budget cuts this year, but we’re committed to helping deliver a Pride event in 2011 so are currently looking at ways in which we can help support it financially.”

James said: “The day was fantastic last year, the march itself was a show stopper as well as the stalls, street entertainnment and so much more. This brought so many people into the city centre to have a fantastic time.

"We will work tirelessly in 2011 to do it all over again, and have events going on throughout the calendar year to keep Liverpool Pride on the map!”

This year’s festival will be held on August 6. For more information about how to get involved with sponsoring Liverpool Pride, visit http://www.liverpoolpride.co.uk/