There is an allegation that Manchester council are playing politics with peoples jobs & services, and that they have gone far beyond the cuts required by central government. Of course this would reflect badly on the coalition, but if it is true it shows a callous disregard for the electorate, and a concentration on their own narrow political interests.

Whoever voted these people need shooting!
Im all for paying taxes so the poor will benifit, not literally leaving the poor to be poor!

"Fees for burials and cremations will go up" Even robbing the dead and bereaved.... stooping so very low now.

They really haven't got a clue, what is needed is radical redundancies and as I mentioned yesterday every one taking a bit of the pain i.e. work 4 hours a week for no extra pay.If the Councils dim approach is keep putting prices up then OK, in 2015 a cost of a funeral will be say 50% higher than in 2011 yet no improvement in services. Leese simply will not listen and is arrogant to the core. No employee should be on more than £70,000. Councillors need to reduce their costs by at least 35%, educate employees to turn power off when not required. Shop around for deals on computers, mobiles, etc etc.Get the millions in unpaid council tax in, stop the employee sickness culture, get rid of the silly jobs like 5 a day officers, yoga officers on £45000, the list is endless.

Funny how some Councils like Trafford can manage to keep the cuts low, but rabid-Labour ones like Manchester seem to be cutting everything under the sun.

Anyone would think they were doing it for their own political purposes!

Having been involved with the council and elements of it's workforce, I have seen both the good and bad of the spending, some staff work excess hours on tasks that are of little value and others get paid for large amounts of money and don't achieve any meaningful objectives. It's like any other organisation, the only difference is, truely commercial companies have had to become leaner over a number of years or they would have "gone under". Cutting services or increasing charges is not the solution. Get rid of waste and pay staff the correct rate for the job, especially staff that don't maintain a good standard of work. Most people who work for or around the council, know where savings can be made without reducing the services provided. I totally agree that the leaders are playing political games at the expense of the people who live in the area.

Derek Hatton was right

We should be permitted to provide the services we see fit and raise revenue accordingly

Raise council tax,levy a local income tax
A co operative manchester

Saw Sir Richard gloating on news last night, what a dispicable self rigthtous joke of a man. He said to reporter stop asking questions over triffiling matters such as senior management wages, the wage levels make no difference.What a bunch of fools he thinks the electorate are, of course wages matter they also mean higher pension rates, higher redundancies payments and national insurance it all adds up. You never seem to hear of a senior public sector worker just retiring, no they all seem to take redundancy then move on to the same in another public sector area.
He blames the coalition goverment for what is happening with a smarmy smirk, when if he had an ounce of decency he would acknowledge the spending can not continue under any goverment and that they have simply lost control of what really matters. Some people will again post "blame the bankers" today, more fool them.The banks may have played a part in this situation but it was Labour policy that allowed that to happen and it was Labour who bailed them out with the largest amount going to Scottish banks.
It was Labour that also decided that we can spend, spend, spend. Give money away to endless lost causes, create endless non jobs and departments and sign our rights away to a foreign land and goverment, Europe. They also signed us up to the Human Rights Act that has become an endless pot of gold for lawyers and the legal service, we now spend billions on matters where common sense and logic no longer prevail.
They lost control of immigration thats now costs us billions again, you only have to look at our prisons where immigrant and migrant people now out nunber our own inmates, again at higher costs because we then bend over backwards to meet their special needs. They broke our laws and we make it nicer for them.Housing and education has been blighted under the pressure of such a large influx of people here because we give them so much. There are even people who are not from UK who get benefits paid by us whilst never having lived here, things like child tax credits/benefit simply because one member of the house hold has worked here for relativly short period in comparison to their gains. Once this benefit has been gained they can go home never contribute again and still recieve payments. This system was set up to increase migration to lower private sector wages but backfired as they simply took our jobs, Labour lost control again and they were certainly not looking at our interests were they.
We need to now take people like Sir Richard to hand and demonstrate that we will no longer accept his politically motivated changes and that we want real change. Get rid of the non jobs, the leaches and stop giving our money away to things the majority dont need.

i posted a comment on MEN yesterday about how we [ the public] dont have a real say in where the cuts are made - Leeses press office responded very quickly - who is paying for this propaganda - Leese may consult but its a cosmetic exercise as i dont believe the residents of Manchester would have 'voted' for many of the savage cuts announced yesterday such as closing libraries ets etc - they make the decisions and have to accept criticism

Get rid of Leese, he's definitley a un-needed expense.

...Debt what debt ! Just sell an airport, After the feast the famine, Collect ALL the council tax outstanding ,sack all the surplus staff in the town hall,
All the money is spent, stop complaining, yes it's a hard pill to swollow, sell a few paintings , don't tell us they've gone missing,
By the way, I hav'n't seen a councilor from any party ,since the election ,

P.S. is the M E N a joey,and boot licker for manchester city council?

Funny how Levenshulme and Miles Platting baths are closing, yet Chorlton baths remains untouched.

A politcally motivated Labour Council activating polically motivated cuts to reflect as badly as possible on the Coalition (no doubt directed by Balls et al who will be rubbing their hands with glee.)

It is not the Coalition who impose where the cuts are made they just direct the percentage reduction, the Coalition have not directed Manchester CC to cut in this way.

The question needs to be asked as to why MCC has directed the cuts at the community, typical New Labour points scoring, maybe people will reflect on the damage being done to the City next time they vote in a local election.

People are right to refer to Hatton as this type of rhetoric takes us back to Liverpool in the eighties.

Will Leese be taking a percentage reduction in his 230k salary also to reflect the 'pain' imposed on the rest of us??? Silly question

i see no cuts to the gay and lesbian community!!!!

There should be NO cuts in services, while there are still outstanding council tax. Can anyone on the council explain why there should, if they can't do a simple thing like that.

MCC plays politics with people's lives - how despicable!

The whole country is looking at manchester and shaking its head,who the chuff would want to live here with these tossers in power honestly cctv cameras in bus lanes more cuts....get ready for the backlash manchester city council it will happen and when it does watch it get nasty.

Oh dear let me get my map of NW England, ah that is Manchester is, oh! easier to get to the Trafford centre, or Liverpool and sensible football!

Sell the airport bussiness (MAG), problem solved.

aye maybe

having read up on what I meant!!

All I know is that the people of manchester vote labour for services we should get them and not havwe them taken away

if you don't want sevices go to Trafford

Knowall Stretford End

Google Sir Richard Leese salary

can't believe how many people on here are actually blaming labour for the nastiness of these cuts, yes labour would have had to make cuts but they wouldn't have punished the hard working low earning families as much Cameron and his hechmen are, i suppose its the same people blaming labour as it was who voted the tories in in the first place, idiots......

This has gone beyond a Labour/coalition issue.

This is 62 Labour councillors, 32 Lib Dems, 1 Tory & 2 Indepdents protecting their own jobs & their own expenses. You can bet your bottom dollar that in two or three years, there'll be a budget surplus in the council & muppets like Leese will be declaring their genius.

Oh and Evening News, it isn't the cuts that make it difficult for vulnerable families to get homes, it's the council selling off their housing to the highest bidder & the Government leaving house prices unchecked for 14 years. (13 Labour & 1Tory)

It's not always about politics, sometimes it's just about incompetent people.

The council should sell Chorlton Swimming baths to the private sector. I'm sure there would be many bidders.

And Didsbury will still be festooned with flowers and hanging baskets!