Star date: 23rd May 2016

GREATER MANCHESTER GREEN PARTIES SLATE CONSULTATION `FARCE'

"We deplore the lack of public consultation that there has been both before and during the introduction of Devo Manc" GM Green Parties Forum.

Greater Manchester Green Parties Forum, which represents local Green Party branches, has slated the Greater Manchester Combined Authorities devolution consultation, which closed on 18th May. 

"From the outset this process has been run by Tory and Labour politicians behind closed doors" says Brian Candeland, North West Green Party Chair "To hold this figleaf consultation now two years down the line is a farce."

Full details here...

Following the Campaign for Democratic Devolution slating what it called "the whole dodgy and completely undemocractic Devo Manc devolution deal...", the Greater Manchester Green Parties Forum - which represents branches throughout the ten GM local authorities - has joined in the condemnation, slamming the latest consultation, which closed on 18th May, as a `figleaf' and a `farce'.

The Forum states that the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA), which is the force behind Greater Manchester devolution, has failed to increase public participation in the process, despite calls from the Parliamentary Select Committee and local papers (including the Salford Star – see here) to do so.

The Forum's first objection is that elections for Greater Manchester Police and Crime Commissioner, which should have happened this year, have been cancelled, and that this cancellation took effect before the consultation closed...

"We find it hard to imagine any circumstance in which the Interim Mayor or GMCA would change their mind on the basis of the public's responses to this consultation" the Forum states in its submission to the GMCA Governance Review "Even if responses objected overwhelmingly, we do not believe it would influence the outcome in the slightest."

Secondly, while broadly supporting the principle of devolution, the Forum slams the lack of democracy in the process...The Green Party is calling on the GMCA `to seriously consider and consult on ways that the citizens of Greater Manchester can better participate in the decision making process'...

"From the outset this process has been run by Tory and Labour politicians behind closed doors" says Brian Candeland, North West Green Party Chair "To hold this figleaf consultation now two years down the line is a farce. The Green Party is in favour of devolving power from Westminster, but it should be done with full involvement of civic society at the start, and it should be done on a 'bottom up' instead of 'top down' direction. It should also be done in conjunction with wider democratic reform."