Star date: 18th March 2014

GOVERNMENT MINISTER LAYS INTO COUNCIL FOR MISUSE OF PUBLIC FUNDS AND DAMAGING INDEPENDENT FREE PRESS

Local Government Minister Brandon Lewis has slated Salford City Council and Salford Mayor Ian Stewart for using LIFE IN Salford magazine for "political propaganda" and "damaging local democracy and an independent, free press".

Salford Council vets every publication it funds, directly or indirectly, in the city, stating that "There must be nothing of an overtly political nature" – indeed community committee members were threatened with jail if they voted to fund the Salford Star. Yet it is one rule for Salford Mayor, Ian Stewart, and one for everyone else, as he has used this month's LIFE magazine for his own political diatribe.

Full details here…

ONE RULE FOR THE SALFORD MAYOR AND ONE FOR EVERYONE ELSE PART 2

In Part 1 we revealed how Salford Mayor Ian Stewart, has been parking his camper van in the Salford Council staff car park at Turnpike House for over a month without paying for it. All other staff have to pay 1% of their salary to park in Council car parks, while the public are also charged – see One Rule for the Salford Mayor and One for Everyone Else Part 1 click here…

Now the Salford Star reveals how Ian Stewart is using the official Salford Council magazine LIFE IN Salford for his own political ends…

A few years ago the Salford Star had a major run in with Salford City Council when members of Community Committee budget sub-groups, who vote how to spend devolved community money, were threatened with jail if they dared to fund the Salford Star.

The community committees were told by Salford Council that they would be in breach of the Local Government Act 1986 because the Salford Star was `overtly political' and `not balanced' – despite, of course, Council officers and councillors providing absolutely no proof of this (see previous Salford Star articles – click here and click here and click here).

Indeed, Salford Council actually changed its whole constitution to stop the Star being funded – and since then every single bit of printed material funded directly or indirectly by the Council has been vetted; including `t-shirts, badges, carrier bags, newletters', and even `letterheads'!

Anyone applying for devolved funding from Community Committees is subject to a strict set of rules, including that "There must be nothing of an overtly political nature"…

…Everyone in Salford is subject to this – except, it seems, Salford City Mayor Ian Stewart.

In the latest issue of LIFE IN Salford, the Council's official magazine – which, of late, is produced and funded in conjunction with an array of partners including Salix Homes, City West Housing, Salford City College and the University of Salford – the Salford Mayor has launched a political diatribe at the Prime Minister and the ConDems… "These government forced cuts are a deliberate tactic by David Cameron to reduce public services etc"

Now, far be it for the Salford Star to disagree with what Ian Stewart is quoted as saying. Indeed, we agree whole heartedly with it. But this isn't about what the Mayor is saying, this is about having one rule for the Mayor and one for everyone else.

LIFE IN Salford goes to every household in the city and is funded, we understand, by £48,000 of local tax payers' money. As such it is bound by the Local Government Act 1986, and "There must be nothing of an overtly political nature" within it.

We just had to inform the Government and Local Government Minister, Brandon Lewis, didn't hold back …

"It is astonishing that in the same breath as criticising Government, Salford Council are choosing to waste tax payers money on political propaganda" he told the Salford Star "The council should be looking at itself and cutting out waste and unnecessary spending to help pay off the deficit inherited by the last Administration. Town Hall Pravda's should be top of their list.

"By continuing to publish so-called newspapers such as Life, Salford are not only misusing public funds, they are ultimately damaging local democracy and an independent, free press" he added "We are cracking down this corrosive abuse of public money by turning our voluntary code into an unequivocal law."

Indeed the Government's voluntary code comes into law at the end of this month and has seven principles of local authority publicity, including that it should be "objective" and "even-handed", and that "a local authority should avoid anything constituting a political statement".

Councils can be sanctioned for such breaches, never mind breaking the current Local Government Act 1986 in the meantime. So will Ian Stewart be threatened with jail like those who wished to fund the Salford Star?

Look, there goes a flying pig over the Civic Centre – it's one rule for the Salford Mayor and one for everyone else…

• When LIFE IN Salford was about to be re-launched a year ago, community managers asked for small articles from community groups to be included. The Salford Star submitted a very small article asking for volunteers, which was banned from appearing (see previous Salford Star article – click here)

Now, other community groups who wish to be included in LIFE will find that they will be charged for the pleasure from April, so only those with money will be able to get their news out to residents.

* Back in 2010, when the Salford Star challenged the Council over its threat to jail community members who wished to help fund the magazine, Councillor David Lancaster, now Deputy Mayor, told Salford Council Cabinet…

"On the issues of the editorial of Salford Life we've got clear editorial content which is not Labour Party content, it's controlled by the editorial board of the three political parties and it's there to give a balanced view. And that's why we can fund organisations like the Salford Life."