This is the last article you can read this month
You can read more article this month
You can read more articles this month
Sorry your limit is up for this month
Reset on:
Please help support the Morning Star by subscribing here
CAMPAIGNERS fear Tory plans to devolve power to a mayor of Greater Manchester will bring a frenzy of privatisations and the sell-off of publicly owned land and buildings.
Tory devolution plans involve imposition of an elected mayor with decision-making powers covering 10 existing local authorities.
Trade union and political campaigners say that if the Tories gain power in the May general election the devolution plan could also mean the government imposing an unelected mayor on Greater Manchester in the lead-up to the first mayoral elections planned for 2017.
The campaigners are carrying out polls in the 10 local authority areas. The latest, in Crumpsall, showed 97 per cent opposition to the imposition of a mayor and 71 per cent against an elected mayor. But 86 per cent of those polled said they support some form of devolution.
Under the proposals — dubbed Devo Manc — the mayor would work with the leaders of the 10 local authorities affected.
The mayoral structure created would be called the Greater Manchester City Authority.
The government is offering a £2 billion spending “sweetener” to accompany devolution of powers to a mayor.
If the Tories succeed in Manchester, they are expected to roll out mayoral devolution to other major English cities.
A Greater Manchester Referendum Campaign is demanding that there be a vote before any devolution is implemented.
Stephen Hall, president of Manchester Association of Trade Union Councils, which supports the campaign, said:
“Ordinary people must surely have the basic democratic right to be consulted, scrutinise and have a say in any changes, welcome or otherwise, to the way they are governed, including on any regional devolution proposal affecting them.
“This would include whether they actually want it or not, and if they do, such things as what region they might be part of, and what any ‘devolved’ decision-making powers and financial settlement might go with it.”
The campaign said the proposal provides for none of these and would simply impose a new form of local government on the people of Manchester.
