Why we joined the tens of thousands marching in Manchester

By Cllr Jim McMahon and Cllr Kieran Quinn

If you believe the hype, Greater Manchester’s aspiration and politics is all about the “Northern Powerhouse”.

As Leaders of two Greater Manchester Councils playing important roles on the GM Combined Authority, we should be at the front and centre of this Tory ideal, keenly setting out our stall to display the “Powerhouse” at conference season.

So when the Tory Party Conference descended on Manchester this week you be forgiven for thinking we’d be welcoming them with open arms – we didn’t.

We instead joined 60,000+ people marching against this government’s vicious attacks on workers’ rights, trade unions and hardworking families, in addition to its ideologically driven austerity programme.

We are not the far left, far right or anything else too far away, but we are near to the real impact of what the cuts mean to the communities we represent. If others take pride in being ideologically ‘far’ we take up responsibility for being ‘near’ our communities, exactly where Labour should be.

Councils like ours have proven we are not pantomime performers playing the audience for an effect. We have been the last line of defence in protecting our communities against the cuts, again and again. Our careful and steadfast determination has seen real savings, efficiencies and new ways of getting the most from public money.

It is only that soundly Labour foundation which supports devolution and Osborne’s Northern Powerhouse.

So we hope that our opinion counts for something.

Local government had to play its part in saving money, so like every department which spends public money we must be open to scrutiny and open to modernising. That isn’t playing to the government of the day, but meeting our responsibilities to the public we represent.

But savings and efficiencies only go so far. We still have to empty the bins, educate our young, look after our old and make sure those at risk of abuse are safeguarded from harm. In fact we will still have over 2,000 legal obligations to meet as authorities – as well as public expectation, which often is little relation to that which we are legally required to do.

The savings have long gone and many councils including our own have become ‘decommissioning units’ of central government.

The centralising control over what councils do, how we do it, and for whom, gets worse not better. While the previous Secretary of State was obsessed with how often we emptied our bins and how many times we produced the local council newspaper, vital services are getting much worse, and it’s more personal than it’s ever been before.

The evidence is clear, Labour controlled councils are cut much more severely cut than our Tory counterparts. Make no mistake, the government have set out a concentrated attack on poorer communities.

We accepted with serious reservation the need to ‘do our bit’ but we are now shouldering even more than that.

The Trade Union Bill isn’t just an attack on trade unions, although it is a nasty and vindictive attack. It hits at the core of the relationship between central and local government.

We’ve developed strong and mature relations with our trade unions and they have formidably balanced representing their members being hit harshly by government, with the need to balance the books and defend themselves from Tory attack.

The imposition to restrict councils from allowing union fees to be deducted from employee salaries is nonsensical and vindictive. In fact with most councils charging for this service it may actually cost the public purse, not save money.

But this isn’t about the cost to the public purse. The government knows only too well that public mood will shift away as vital public services are removed and they want to dull the impact and possibility of any protest. Something we cannot allow.

To require trade unions to get a higher share of the vote than the government secured to occupy No. 10 is outrageous and downright unfair.

To demand that trade unions give two weeks advanced notice of messages and social media activity is crazy and unworkable, and if the same was asked of political parties the response would be firm and forthright in its defence.

Even in the hardest of battles we should have a level and fair playing field. Fair play isn’t a concept respected by the government today.

So yes, as activists and council leaders we joined the TUC rally because we believe the cuts have gone too far, but more than that we believed in a common Labour bond. That by the strength of our common endeavour we achieve more than we can alone. Our public sector workers are the frontline in looking after our communities, they are at the real first port of call and the last line of defence. We owe them respect and support and they deserve more than the constant attacks and scapegoating.

Let us level the playing field and let’s hope by moving the debate to the centre of politics we can get some common sense.

Cllr Jim McMahon is leader of Oldham Council and Cllr Kieran Quinn is leader of Tameside Council