Democracy in Salford took a step back last week, as a Greater Manchester Mayoral System was imposed on the area's ten towns and cities, including Salford. Under the guise of giving more power to ordinary people, the system is actually giving more power to politicians who have proved inept in the past, and definitely in the present.
The mayoral system in Salford has been proved not to work (see the results after only six months of power in 2012 - click here and it's got a lot worse since then). Even Salford Mayor Ian Stewart claims not to agree with it. Yet he and other local council leaders happily signed a contract, thrashed out behind closed doors, which will produce a Greater Manchester Mayor by 2017.
Now the Green Party, which, in theory agrees with devolution, is calling for proper consultation and a referendum...
"When Scotland voted on devolution in September, it was seen as a high water mark of democracy with 84.6% of the population voting" says Laura Bannister, the Party's general election candidate for Manchester Gorton "The debate and discussion leading to the referendum took place over two years. No such process has happened in Greater Manchester."
Chair of Manchester Green Party, Deyika Nzeribe adds: "The Green Party is in favour of devolution when done correctly. It has to be discussed and accepted at a local level. The Green Party therefore calls for a consultation of the people of Greater Manchester, followed by a referendum, to decide whether we want devolution and if so, what form it should take. This is the biggest governance change in Manchester in a generation - people have a right to decide this for themselves. We will work with others to make this happen."
So what will the agreement involve?
The Greater Manchester Mayor will have powers over transport, housing, planning, and policing, and will be held up to account by a `Scrutiny Pool' which already exists doing scrutiny at the GMCA (Greater Manchester Combined Authority). Sitting on that `Scrutiny Pool' will be councillors from the ten districts, who haven't exactly set the world on fire with their `scrutiny' of GMCA so far. Some of the councillors from Salford will inevitably be the same ones who have `scrutiny' functions at Salford Council and haven't set the world on fire here either, following party line on almost all occasions.
The Greater Manchester Mayor will also "be required to consult the GMCA Cabinet on his/her strategies, which it may reject if two-thirds of the members agree to do so" the agreement states "The GMCA Cabinet will also examine the Mayor's spending plans and will be able to amend his/her plans, again if two-thirds of the members agree to do so".
The Cabinet consists of the ten leaders of the local councils, including the Salford Mayor. It's basically the same revolving door for the same old politicians. With the community always looking in from outside the process. Indeed, the very way that the agreement with George Osborne was imposed on the people of Greater Manchester says it all really.
As well as the Greater Manchester Mayor that no citizens have agreed to have, the agreement is a mish mash of powers, a lot of which are already in existence on a county level like transport, policing (the actual Police Commissioner goes) and business.
In relation to housing, Greater Manchester will have a Housing Investment Fund worth £300 million over ten years "to be provided by a public sector body to the private sector in the form of recoverable loans and longer-term equity".
The Mayor will also have the power "to create a statutory spatial framework for the city region, which will act as the framework for managing planning across Greater Manchester". As the agreement states, "this will be in line with the strategy currently being developed by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority".
For skills, the Government will "work with Greater Manchester directly to re-shape and re-structure the Further Education (FE)...so that a new, forward looking FE system is in place by 2017" which looks like a closure and merger of colleges while the Government is intending to "devolve the Apprenticeship Grant for Employers to Greater Manchester so that it can make its own determination regarding priorities".
On Health, "the Government invites the GMCA and Greater Manchester Clinical Commissioning Groups and acute trusts to develop a business plan for the integration of health and social care across Greater Manchester, making best use of existing budgets and including specific targets for reducing pressure on A&E and avoidable hospital admissions". This has already started happening with the controversial `Healthier Together' programme and lots of stuff going on behind closed doors.
The Green Party statement concludes "Though the agreement, negotiated out of view of the public, brings some services under local control there are no additional resources that would not likely come to the region anyway".
And, of course, at a local Salford Council level, the horrendous cuts continue...
To read the full Greater Manchester Agreement - click here
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