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Cheadle and Gatley Lib Dems are moving
Cheadle and Gatley Lib Dems are moving
What were the local issues four decades ago?
Cheadle and Gatley Lib Dems are moving
Greater Manchester’s Interim Mayor – more of the same or something different?
by Lib Dem team on 18 May, 2015
The two candidates for Interim Mayor of Greater Manchester have very different ideas about what their role will be and how they’ll carry it out. Peter Smith argues for more of the same while Tony Lloyd sees the Interim Mayor as doing something quite different.
Wigan leader Peter Smith and GM Police & Crime Commissioner Tony Lloyd are the candidates for Greater Manchester Interim Mayor
In 2017 the people of Greater Manchester will elect a city-wide mayor as part of the massive devolution deal that will see many more decisions being taken locally instead of in Whitehall. You may like the idea of a mayor, you may hate it – either way we seem certain to get one.
In the next few weeks the leaders of the Greater Manchester councils will appoint the so-called Interim Mayor. This person will not have executive powers, but will lead the Greater Manchester Combined Authority for two critical years as it makes the transition from a club of the ten councils to a powerful body in its own right.
Tony Lloyd is a former Labour MP, currently serving as Greater Manchester’s Police & Crime Commissioner. He believes that Greater Manchester has achieved as much as it can under the current system and the Mayor needs to bring something different. He wants to be a loud voice for Greater Manchester both nationally and internationally. Tony believes that with the SNP’s success north of the border and London Mayor Boris Johnson now in the Cabinet, Greater Manchester could fall behind unless there is a strong voice speaking up for it.
Peter Smith is Labour leader of Wigan Council and currently chairs the Combined Authority. His vision for the mayor is very different: the Greater Manchester Combined Authority has been very successful, Peter argues, and we need more of the same. A full-time role is needed to deal with the extra work coming along thanks to devolution, but in essence the Mayor will be much the same as his current role of Chair, but busier. Peter has also ruled himself out of standing for the position of elected Mayor in 2017.
Both candidates stress the need to continue the cross-party consensual approach of the Combined Authority, to raise public awareness, improve scrutiny, deal with spending cuts and use the devolved powers to tackle problems around health, investment, transport, housing, inequality, jobs and skills. Both candidates have shown they can work effectively with politicians of different parties and can argue their case at the highest levels in government.
I don’t get a vote in this appointment, but if I did I would vote for Tony Lloyd*. It seems to me that, whether or not you like the idea of a Mayor, we should make the most of it and Tony’s vision of being the voice for Greater Manchester, doing more to attract investment and fighting our corner nationally and internationally has the potential to achieve more for the us.
* This is my personal opinion only and should not be taken as the view of my leader, my council or anyone else.
11 Comments
Agreed if the Scots can rule their own, why can’t the Mancs? I don’t agree with a United Kingdom where all of the people don’t have the same amount of power or representation.
Where do the Lib Dems stand on Federalisation if you don’t mind me asking? Its clear from that last election the different regions of England and the UK want to run their area differently and clearly it isn’t fair where 3 regions of the UK with only 16% of the population get more power than the other 84%.
The Lib Dems have always been strongly in favour of devolution. That might look different in different areas, so the model that suited Yorkshire might not be the same as the one for Manchester or Cornwall. The Coalition started reversing decades of shifting power from local authorities into the centre and we’ll be campaigning for the movement of power away from Whitehall to continue.
They may be fantastic interim Mayors, who knows, but they look like two middle aged white men in suits and it would be good to think that candidates for the permanent position were more representative of a cross section of the population.
Very true Carolyn! Of the ten Greater Manchester authorities, only Stockport currently has a leader who isn’t a white man in a suit. I certainly hope that the candidates for elected mayor will be more diverse.
These candidates are two OLD men, well past their prime – as am I. If we must have a mayor then let’s have a choice of candidates who can represent the current and future generations. The incumbent needs to be forward looking.
At the risk of being a complete idiot, who get to vote for the interim mayor and when?
The choice is between two labour politicians, elected by the heads of the 10 authorities with no statements of any detail on what they propose to do and no detail on salary although apparently its at least 100K pa.
My main concern is resources being moved to inner city labour areas from ours and potential large rises in Council Tax given labours tax and spend instincts, neither of which is acceptable.
Will this new body have any power over setting Stockports Council Tax?
Hi Frederick,
A key part of the devolution agreement is that it’s bringing powers down from Whitehall, not up from Councils. Nothing that’s currently done by local authorities will move to Greater Manchester control, including setting council tax. No resources currently deployed by Stockport Council will move outside the borough.
Love that there is at least some recognition of different regional needs in the “northern powerhouse” idea but can we really envisage this coming about through time-serving Labour politicians long past their sell-by date. The thought of paying them outrageous amounts of money while having no influence on their selection is particularly alarming. I have scant idea of what they are going to do and no confidence whatsoever in their being able to represent us and bring about change. Certainly we all need to be working to ensure that the 2017 election gives us real choice and is conducted on the basis of fair votes and fair represntation.
Those time-serving Labour politicians long past their sell-by date managed to get Greater Manchester this devolution deal as part of the GMCA. The thought of paying them outrageous amounts of money should be lessened by the fact this position is aiding in replacing that completely pointless Police and crime commissioner position which the Tories implemented. Plus they are working with the existing GMCA so it’s not like they are going to be doing anything radically different as the same group of people will still be making the decisions.
Both candidates where elected by the people (albeit not all of the people) of Greater Manchester for Wigan council and Manchester Police and Crime Commissioner respectively, so its not like they’ve never had popular democratic support. Plus come 2017 you can vote for which ever candidate you may please.
As for what they are going to do, here is one of the many online resources on the Manchester Council website about the position. The link is to a debate session between the two candidates so watch that and you’ll be informed as to their intentions. http://www.manchester.public-i.tv/core/portal/webcast_interactive/175691
MK
Love your faith in the democratic process – the same one that fails to produce a single opposition councillor in Manchester City Council.
Also love your faith in the candidates – one of whom has been very happy to take an outrageous salary for the “completely pointless” crime commissioner role for the past couple of years.
ATH