Ivan Lewis: The vision of Labour people must save Manchester from becoming a Northern Poorhouse

I am standing to be Labour’s candidate for mayor of Greater Manchester because I have a vision for this conurbation; a vision to fight inequality and transform every one of our towns and cities through good jobs, fair pay, high quality education, better health, reliable public transport and affordable housing.

In a global economy, imbalanced economies are under-performing ones and a long-standing over-centralisation and unfair distribution of public investment has fuelled inequality in our country for too long.

It is right – and overdue – that local people have more control over the decisions that affect them and so I applaud and support Greater Manchester’s Labour leaders for putting aside deeply held political differences and doing business with Government to secure DevoManc.

Indeed, the party, at a local level, has a duty to take every opportunity to pursue progressive policies in an era of Tory Government.

However, I have come to the conclusion that, in some key areas, the combined impact of the deals, so far, is flawed. It is time now for Labour to fight for a fairer deal, focused on tackling the inequality which has left too many behind and held Greater Manchester back for too long.

Next week, Greater Manchester will take control of its £6bn integrated health and social care budget but this will mean nothing if it simply becomes a smokescreen for more Tory cuts.

The deal already presents a £2bn funding gap, social care and mental health services are pushed to crisis point and we have no guarantee that the Treasury won’t cut funding further.

As mayor, I’ll fight to keep our NHS strong. I’ll put right these flaws by fighting for a deal which would more than double the current NHS transformation fund from £450m to £1bn. And I’ll make clear that in Greater Manchester we vehemently oppose the privatisation of the NHS and insist on major improvement to patient and public involvement.

On skills, we must tackle the scourge of worklessness, improve productivity and equip young people, from an early age, for the high-tech and green jobs of the future. The current deal only gives Greater Manchester control over 19+ education. This sets us up to fail.

As mayor, I will demand more power to support school improvement through a properly-funded schools challenge, on a par with London; high quality 14-19 vocational education and the flexibility to work with employers on more apprenticeships.

If the Government is serious about supporting Greater Manchester to tackle the scandal of 25 per cent of children living in poverty, they must use devolution to give us the funding we need to expand early childhood development programmes not cut them as they are now.

I now turn to our town centres – the heart of our communities. I welcome the decision to allow Greater Manchester to retain 100 per cent business rate revenues but a fair deal will recognise the plurality of district centres across the conurbation and provide an economic model which supports them equally.

Simultaneously, while the Government continues to rig and decimate our council grants, there is a risk that this latest deal on business rates could increase inequality, rather than reduce it. I want to put in place transitional arrangements to ensure that rate retention does not leave Greater Manchester worse off.

And finally I will champion a different kind of politics. Too often, throughout the devolution process, the public and their elected representatives have been cut out of deals between the Combined Authority and the Chancellor, presenting a real risk that the elected Mayor and cabinet will be seen as remote from the communities they serve. While some of this requires local level resolution, we must also seek funding to support measures which enhance accountability and public involvement. Different politics also means public services that, at every level, reflect the diversity of our communities; they, too, must look like the people they serve and I will act to ensure that is the case.

Securing this new, fairer devolution deal will be essential if Greater Manchester is to tackle inequality and become a world-class conurbation for all its people.

This government’s right-wing ideology and policy agenda will never lead to the emergence of a new, powerful north. Already disproportionate cuts and policies, like forcing our schools to become academies, makes a mockery of devolution.

The Northern Powerhouse risks becoming a “Northern Poorhouse” without the vision and innovation of Labour people in the north; those willing to step up to the plate and not only call out injustice but support people to have better lives and better life chances.

Our leaders in Greater Manchester have been right to follow the finest tradition of northern radicals, as pioneers for devolution. But we must not settle for what we have and, as Labour’s mayor, I will fight for a fair deal, not a flawed one.

Ivan Lewis is MP for Bury South and is standing to be Labour’s candidate for Greater Manchester.