David Cameron has blasted Manchester council for cutting jobs rather than waste – and insisted huge cuts to the town hall's budget were 'fair'.
Speaking exclusively to the M.E.N, the prime minister appeared to dispute his government's own figures that show the city will lose 21pc of its government grants over the next two years – one of the biggest reductions in the country.
He said it was 'completely wrong' to cut jobs before 'bureaucracy and waste' – and implied the Labour-run city council deliberately announced 2,000 posts were to go for political gain on the day of a crucial by-election in Oldham.
Mr Cameron is in the north west today ahead of council elections on May5, and said he wanted 'constructive relations' with every town hall.
In a wide-ranging interview with the MEN, Mr Cameron also said he wanted Manchester Manchester to rival Shangai and Beijing as a 'major world player', supported the idea of an elected mayor for the city and claimed the country had become too reliant on London.
He said the Conservatives were 'working flat out' to win every vote – while admitting it was 'tough for governing parties at local elections'.
He added: “The point about Manchester city council is [that] despite having the highest level of funding per head in the area and a chief executive who earns around £70,000 more than any cabinet minister, they have already announced 2,000 cuts to staff posts and cuts to children's and adult services as well.
“It is completely wrong to cut jobs and services before cutting waste and bureaucracy – and you've got to ask why they announced these job cuts on the day of the Oldham East and Saddleworth election.”
The by-election – caused by the downfall of former minister Phil Woolas – was won handsomely by Labour's Debbie Abrahams.
Mr Cameron disputed whether Manchester was losing 21pc of its grant. He claimed that figure did not include a transition grant of £13m and extra funding for the NHS that will go direct to the town hall.
And he said Manchester should take a leaf from the book of Tory-run Trafford, which is cutting just 150 jobs.
“It's not rocket science,” he said. “[They are] cutting back office, sharing services, finding smart ways of delivering more for less. They are even selling the mayor's personalised number plate to save money.”
Mr Cameron defended his government's plans to turn council leaders in big cities – including Manchester – into 'shadow mayors' before holding a referendum next year to see if people liked the idea and wanted to make it permanent.
“We are giving people the chance to choose,” he said. “I do think it is important that great cities like Manchester should have the chance to elect mayors.
“I want Manchester to be up there with Beijing and Shanghai as a major world player, and I think that having an elected mayor will really help.”
Mr Cameron said he wanted to give Britain a more 'balanced' economy that was less reliant on public spending, financial services, and 'one city: London'.
“We want to change that and build a more balanced economy, where every corner of the country shares in rising prosperity and growth,” he said. “We've already taken a number of steps to do that: setting up a new enterprise zone in Greater Manchester, creating a Regional Growth Fund, bringing in a National Insurance holiday for new businesses in the area, and setting out plans for a new high-speed rail network, linking London, the West Midlands, Manchester and Leeds.”
MEN comment: Sorry Mr Cameron, but your figures are wrong
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Quite right.
The council are incapable of running their business efficiently and effectively.
The country too reliant on London? So it's our fault? Amazing ! Yet another London politician out of touch with reality and what is happening in the rest of the country.
Close to where I live is an enormous warehouse quite a successful business and yet although the site has plenty of room all the top jobs & the head office is based in the London area. There's no real good reason for this, but we have reached a state where 95% of the top jobs are now in London and successive governments have failed to do anything about the growing North South divide. To find that our Prime Minister honestly believe that the divide is the fault of the regions and that they are too reliant of the South East is deeply worrying.
Proof as ever that the old adage "The only good Tory is a Lavatory" still rings true.
I didn't think there would be anyone I would dislike more than Thatcher..... but this guy is pushing that belief.
I live in the Soviet Republic of Bolton but I ask those in Manchester to look on the City Council's own website. There you will find this: " As well as representation from active trade unions, our employees from black and
ethnic minority, disabled and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities are
also supported by a network of employee groups, most notably the:
Departmental and corporate black staff groups
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender employee group...
"As well as supporting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees, the
Council has been a proud supporter of lesbian and gay events, such as the annual
Manchester Lesbian & Gay Pride and the ‘Queer up North’ Arts festival.
Manchester City Council is also a member of Stonewall’s Diversity Champions
Network."
That's the way the money goes.
Is Manchester now the conlibs official bogeyman in the North West? The tories are past masters at this style of divide and conquer politics, what we need is strong, imaginative,creative leadership but we get this, the politics of the gutter.
Manchester needs to get its house in order. They have hiked rent and rates that high in the City Centre King Street area and have ended up with almost a ghost area its starting to look extremely run down be competitive and encourage business instead of driving them out whilst we are in a recession but they need the cash dont they for the High Salaries of some staff, its not cut backs that effect them as much as inadequacies in spending and poor decision making.
A brilliant speech by a soon to be great prime minister. I have high hopes that David will achieve even greater heights than even Marvelous Margaret. Let's all hope he guides us through the current chaos left by Labour and onwards to the heady days of Cameronism. Well done David - you've made a brilliant start.
You can ignore all the critics. They were the same unimaginative luddites who moaned about Margaret - mainly because they could see their cushy overpaid skives coming to an end.
As regards the so called opposition - forget Ed, he'll be gone within 12 months now they've realised he's talentless and has no personality or charisma. Hopefully Balls will get the job and that will be Labour out of power for another generation.
Three cheers for David: Hip hip!
Every single cut is being decided by the labour council, I can’t believe the main man earns 70k more than the P.M. and rather than taking a cut or selling his fancy car and plate he makes huge voluntary (expensive) redundancies. It’s obvious that this council wants the Manchester people to feel the pinch and blame it on the Conservative central government. Please people of Manchester understand that every penny cut from a public service you use is decided by a labour council and not from Westminster and vote accordingly.
Why do the Tories compare like with dislike, the cheif executives are people who have applied for jobs and worked to get to where they are, they should be compared with similar in the senior civil service when it comes to salary. Government ministers get eclected and if they lick the boots of the leader they get their post, so no real hard work, similar to lead mambers in councils, so their salaries should be compared. That would give a truer reflection of the salary but call me Dave does like to talk in riddles, gets rid of the NWDA which was pulling in money for the region and sets up city size LEPs which will fight with other LEPs in the North West for a smaller pot of development money, so putting up the cost of getting the money down instead of a share and creating a stop go north west economy with growth in some parts and none in others of this region.
The Wikipedia entry for Shangai tells us that between 2000 and 2010 it benefited from the arrival of between 6 and 8 million ecconomic migrants, and the average disposable income of residents was 3300 dollars per year.
Although it does boast 12 metro lines with 273 stations and 420km of track.
Trafford Council are not just cutting 150 jobs and I as a Trafford resident wish Cameron and his cronies could count. They claim 150 jobs but this figure has not taken into account vacant posts which the council have deleted nor the jobs lost from elderly people's homes, council gardening services and other such posts which brings the figure near to 400!!. This at a time when the number of Directors at Tory controlled Trafford has risen by four all on over 100K per annum. Trafford also runs a Comminucation team costing 500K per annum and has a history of using highly paid Consultants!!! Cameron in trying to compare Manchester to Trafford is not comparing like with like. In Manchester the council has always offered a wider range of free services such as additional rubbish collection and other environmental services. This has never been the case in Trafford.
Sorry but Cameron does not convince me and you should not be taken in by him!!
Right ok folks, let me offer you an alternative view, since the words from a tory are likely to scorn regular mancunians!
Had Labour got in, their cuts would have been in the region of £14bil, the coalitions are likely to be in the region of £16bil. So you see the alternative is just as grim. On the other hand, I am quite sure that a Labour government would have punished other councils in order to lessen funding cuts to MCC.
But regardless, David Cameron is right. What adds insult to injury is that the chief execs are being paid wayyyyy too much and have been in power at MCC for way too long for that matter.
MCC could easily lessen the funding cut blow to essential services/workers within the council. But like I've said before Leese and his cronies are defiant and want to make a political statement by hitting back at the coalition.
At the end of the day, it doesn't matter what I say... The cuts will happen and we'll all have to get used to it!
Thanks for the update Dave!
We would not know this because of:
The abolition of the Central Office of Information and the loss of 1,000 posts
Government Cut-Backs I hear!
Everything Manchester City Council does is for political reasons. They are still sulking that Labour did not win the election and will do everything they can, spend every penny they can to make any non-Labour Government look bad. They do not care about the people of Manchester and will always put their own political needs before ours.
They are self-serving and in my opinion are closer to a communist party than a Labour party. Equal misery for all but excluding themselves.
I have been sickened by their manipulative attitude since the people of Britain failed to automatically re-elect their masters back into Westminster with a huge majority.
The cuts to mainly lower paid front line jobs at Manchester City council confirm that it is followowing exactly the same path as other public bodies. It is becoming a method by which middle class people hang on to nicely paid jobs, many of which don't need doing at all.
Typical Cameron PR he gives exclusive interviews so that he can't be challenged on his statements.
They are then published and the majority believe that it must be fact.
The fact is politicians are nowadays a bunch of clever PR spin-doctors who now how to manipulate the media for their own purposes.By comparing wealthy Trafford with Manchester is not a like for like comparison.
This guy could and has probably already done it "sell ice to eskimos" and "sand to the Arabs"
He is very silent at the moment on the Libyan crisis and he is obviously trying to change the debate away from wars for the control of oil.
He is very silent on the cuts to frontline NHS staff.
He is very silent on bankers bonuses.
He is very silent on £9000 per annum student university fees.
He is very silent on EMA grants to 16-18 year olds.
He is very silent on lengthening NHS waiting times for operations.
Et cetera..........
Manchester City Council's financial balance sheet shows its net worth ( assets minus liabilities) has dropped from £1,200 million down to £400 million
(compared to Leeds' £300 million, & Bradford's negative net worth of nearly £200 million) -
due largely to the £1 Billion shortfall on its staff pension fund, but made worse by its
revenue defecit of &180+ million, in 2009/10 ... according to its latest accounts on its website.
The City Council is carrying £700 million of debt, against a borrowing limit of £1.2 Billion.
Does this compare favourably with Manchester's football clubs , or not ?
Tory from Trafford, the south side of the city (11/04/2011 at 11:29)
Business rates are the same in Trafford as in Manchester.
Can you prove that or is it fact?
Are business rates the same nationally then i.e. Manchester rates are the same for say Westminster and the same for Middlebrough?
i am in total agreemnet with what has been said,the one thing i would like to see is the truth nowhere have i read about how much all the so cold leaders of manchester council get paid nor how much could be saved by doing what has been suggested it appears to me that MEN are perhaps some what shy at producing this information IT NEEDS TO BE TOLD
Why Cameron constantly compares Manchester to Trafford is mindless. Trafford is a succession of small towns - Alty / Urmston / Sale / Stretford / Hale etc etc, collectively it hasn't got any cultural or historical centre, no sense of place or belonging, no civic pride, its a collective name for parts of Cheshire and Manchester. Why not compare, Mr Cameron, to Liverpool - oh wait the cuts there are on a similar scale too and its not a Tory Council - or Leeds, oh there too...Not suprisingly we have another London centric PM who knows nothing about reality outside of the M25...
It's all very well, Cameron Blasting the council, but it is the fault of government that, Manchester City council have to make these cuts.
The Coalition government, thinks nothing of sending £446m to Pakistan, yet take every penny that we own.
Lets save money, they say. "We'll scrap trident, and cut the armed forces down, give Pakistan a shed load of OUR money, so they can train even more terrorist to come over here and blow us all up."
Very Clever MR BLOODY CAMERON.
GET OUT OF DOWNING STREET NOW.
'And he said Manchester should take a leaf from the book of Tory-run Trafford, which is cutting just 150 jobs.'
Apart from that figure being disputed by Thirty Years and Out, Trafford, isn't the loss of 150 jobs quite a lot anyway? And it would seem that Mr Cameron doesn't know that Oldham actually has its own council and isn't part of Manchester.
How did this rancid idiot become our Prime Minister? Manchester hates the tories and we don't need your opinion on what you think Manchester should become. Your Vision stinks.
On another part of the site gun crime at the lowest level. Burglary, robbery, criminal damage, and vehicle crime are all at an all time low. Just before GMP budgets are cut meaning a loss of frontline Police and back office jobs cut meaning these are done by frontline Police. Are these politically motivated too? Stop blaming everyone else for your too deep, too fast ideological cuts.