Greater Manchester was well placed to grab George Osborne's proposals for devolution early and is pushing ahead rapidly. In many ways, Greater Manchester councils never accepted the abolition of the metropolitan authority and continued to work together as AGMA - the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities - with statutory responsibility for fire and rescue, police, public transport and waste and co-operation on a range of other areas such as economic development, housing and planning. The transition to a Combined Authority has been relatively painless.
However, there is still little public buy-in to the Combined Authority and indeed, many of the loudest voices are those publicly campaigning against an elected mayor! Meanwhile many in the metropolitan boroughs are deeply, but more quietly, concerned that Manchester will get all the growth and investment and there is a real challenge for local authorities and businesses across the conurbation to ensure they get their fair share of funds. Much more work needs to be done on industrial clusters and developing capacity to both bid for funds and deliver innovative projects.
Labour MPs are also split on the issue of devolution and the "Northern Powerhouse". Although the majority are in support of devolution, they are concerned that in the current climate the project is more about devolving cuts and blame rather than devolving power. The decision to allow local authorities to keep business rates and then the out of the blue Budget announcement of cuts to small business rates which will lead to further cuts in local authority budgets gives them evidence for their fears.
The two declared Labour candidates for Mayor - Tony Lloyd, the current Police and Crime Commissioner and interim Mayor, and Ivan Lewis, MP for Bury South - are working hard to win the selection which may raise public awareness. Other candidates are yet to come forward and are leaving it rather late to declare an interest – Cllr Richard Leese famously suggested it should be a younger woman. Unfortunately few have emerged although there have been some whispers regards Rosa Battle, Manchester Councillor and daughter of former Leeds MP, John Battle.
The other political parties are yet to announce their candidates but the reality is the election is Labour's to lose with the biggest threat more likely to come from a Greater Manchester "character" – Ken Barlow? Maxine Peake? Alex Ferguson? Or worse, Fred the Red, United’s mascot which would of course make a mockery of the whole process in the same way that H’Angus the Monkey did in Hartlepool (where after ten years of farce the role of elected Mayor was abolished).
Greater Manchester’s future agenda deserves better than that. With the potential for bus franchising and Smart Ticketing as well as control of a £300million Housing Investment Fund, powers over spatial planning, skills and the work programme - plus the integration of health and social care and, as announced just last week devolution of criminal justice powers – the public, businesses and indeed politicians need to sit up, take notice and get more involved.
Julie Hilling served as MP for the highly marginal seat of Bolton West from 2010 to 2015 and is now an Associate with Devo Connect