Another opportunity to have more balance in our sources of information - interview with Andy Burnham

I have read "Head North" by Andy Burnham and Steve Rotheram" They make a lot of good points about devolution in there.
I have a lot of time for Andy Burnham and believe he has been such a good mayor for us here in Manchester.

Best prime minister we haven’t had (yet).

Hands off he’s ours (in Manchester)!
Sadly I think we will lose him at some point he will take over from Sadiq Khan as London Mayor.

And, if that’s not bad enough, I think we will lose this man ◀️ who has turned around crime here in Manchester with strong police initiatives. (Backed by Andy Burnham who supplied him with ‘whatever you need to get the job done’). No nonsense, old copper approach but with respect as well as firmness.

Stephen Watson has been praised for his no-nonsense approach to policing since taking charge of Greater Manchester Police (GMP) in 2021.

Mr Watson describes himself as anti-woke having previously spoken out against officers “virtue-signalling” with rainbow badges and taking the knee.

Ilovecheese

I have read "Head North" by Andy Burnham and Steve Rotheram" They make a lot of good points about devolution in there.
I have a lot of time for Andy Burnham and believe he has been such a good mayor for us here in Manchester.

I do Ilovecheese (have a lot of time for AB). There was one thing that really stuck me was ages ago, when he was discussing Combined Authorities on another programme. He brought up the way German Länder are funded. The gist of it appeared to be the they must each get proportionately the same. As I understood it this didn't mean the same each year but over a period of time. I don't know if he's written about this?

It just seemed so much better than our system where councils have to bid for pots of money and it goes to the one who can show they will make the most financially. The "winners" under this system tend to be those who have previously received such grants so have more infrastructure, etc., in place.

I hope we begin to hear more about how we could adapt to such changes.

Bumping.

I don't remember what he said about combined authorities, what struck me most was what he said about how little power ordinary MPs have, even in Government.
He said that he would never want to go back to Westminster and who could blame him when here in Manchester he can actually change things to help people.

Right man, right job Ilovecheese. It's hard work being a trail blazer. I was sorry Andy Street lost his job because they seemed to understand working together.