So here was Tory Chancellor George Osborne, in one hand holding an axe and a red budget case with 'The worst recovery in history' plastered on it. In the other hand was a lead with a Mayoral gimp on the end of it, representing the ten leaders of Greater Manchester councils, including Salford Mayor, Ian Stewart. The symbolism was obvious.
Meanwhile, Referendum Man was fighting the good fight for a vote on Greater Manchester Devolution. And behind him were hundreds of campaigners for public services and the NHS in what was called the birth of a pro-democracy movement in the north...
"If we were doing this today in Hong Kong or Beijing there'd be all this media from all over the world talking about China's pro-democracy movement; because that's what we are a pro-democracy movement" said Stephen Hall, President of Greater Manchester Association of Trades Councils.
Annette Wright, President, Manchester Trades Union Council, hailed support for the campaign agreed yesterday by the North West TUC, and explained in simple terms what the campaign 'is and what it isn't'...
"This is not a party political campaign" she explained "It is not a campaign that says we are all opposed to devolution. It is not a campaign that says those of us who agree with devolution necessarily agree with what form it should take. It is a campaign that is simply about democracy. It is a campaign that says that if you can have a vote about whether or not those of us who have cars should have to pay to drive them into the city centre and if you can have a vote about whether or not Manchester should have an elected Mayor - then surely you can, and you should, and you must have a vote about decisions that are being made that affect the services used by two and a half million people in Greater Manchester.
"We don't think the correct level of consultation on this issue is for ten men to sit around a table with a Tory Chancellor" she added "We think the correct level of consultation is for every adult amongst those two and half million people to have their say, or decide not to have their say, on the issue; that is what we're calling for today.
"When this campaign started that is all it was really about but things have happened since and it's become about other issues, and those people whose first concerns were about democracy have joined together with those people whose first concern is always our NHS" she said "Again, we may or may not agree about what the future of the NHS should look like but I think there are certain points we can agree with...that we do not want an NHS in Greater Manchester that is poorly funded. We don't want an NHS in Greater Manchester that provides a different service than the NHS anywhere else. We don't want an NHS in Greater Manchester that looks like it's more easy to privatise than the NHS anywhere else.
"I think what we all want is a publicly funded, publicly provided free nationwide health service, and we don't need to give it a new fancy name, it's already got a name that is well known and very, very self explanatory it is the National Health Service. That is what we're standing up for today..."
Other speakers from trade unions and NHS campaigns underlined Annette's sentiments.
"In Greater Manchester we face a future like no other in the country" said Penny Hicks from the People's Assembly "We have been singled out for something the Tories call the Northern Powerhouse, which is a horrible definition of something that will turn into the Northern Poorhouse unless we get together and do something about it.
"Today we're here for a very simple demand for democracy, for a vote" she added "And in this city of the suffragettes, isn't it ironic that we're here demanding a vote for such a basic change that's happening."
Meanwhile, Stephen Hall emphasised the Trojan Horse metaphor, warning of bringing devolution into the 'city gates' so the ten leaders of Greater Manchester councils could look good sat on top of it...
"They're saying it will have all this economic growth, this powerhouse - if you believe in that you will believe in fairies" he said "It's about the `reform' of public services but not the way we'd use to describe reform...It's about the systematic rationalisation, de-compartmentalisation and privatisation of all our public services.
"People have no idea of what the implications of this package are, and even GPs haven't been consulted on it" he added "It's all being rushed through before the General Election, and I'm startled that the ten leaders eight Labour, one Lib Dem and one Tory aren't waiting for the outcome of the General Election before we're even thinking about doing stuff like this. We need a proper public debate about what devolution might entail."
Steven North, branch secretary of Salford City UNISON, echoed the point...
"We shouldn't need to be stood here in the rain in the centre of Manchester because what we're asking for is a basic concept around democracy" he said "All we're asking for is a vote, the opportunity to be given a referendum on something that has the potential to change the way health, social care and all public services in Greater Manchester are delivered. We want our right to decide."
This week, Salford Royal Hospital was given an outstanding mark by the Care Quality Commission, which led to Prime Minister David Cameron hot footing it down there yesterday to bask in its glory. Yet the devolution of £6billion of health and social care budgets may well endanger the hospital's superb services...
"I think this could potentially happen" Steven explained "There are concerns about fragmentation in the NHS, there's a concern that they might try to put regional pay bargaining back into place...and my big worry about this is that we could have a Greater Manchester Commissioning Body that effectively decides which private companies to hawk parts of the NHS, social care and other public services out to. So it threatens the very nature of what our public services are, particularly the NHS. We should all be very wary of that. All we're asking is for the opportunity to look at the details and have the right to decide..."
Organisers said that this public rally calling for a referendum on devolution was the first of many, as the pro-democracy movement begins to grow...
For more details see previous related Salford Star articles...
* Who gave Salford Mayor a mandate to sign devolution deal? - click here
* Greater Manchester Devolution will destroy NHS state health campaign groups - click here
* 'Trust Me On Devolution' says Salford City Mayor - click here
* The growth of Greater Manchester Fat Cats - click here
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