Local Government

You might find this controversial, but Jeremy Corbyn’s recent election victory reminds me of Martin Luther King. Both had a clear vision of the change they want to see. Both were prepared to fight injustice and of course both became deeply unpopular with the establishment who said the policies they were promoting were dangerous. And in the case of Luther King, time proved those concerns to be largely unfounded.

Greater Manchester has done a fine job in the last 25 years of delivering real change. In the last months, on the back of the devolution agreement and the devolution of health and social care budgets, it is starting to do even more. Nevertheless, economic challenges remain and poverty and inequality are hard to shift. The current level of devolved power and resource cannot be the fixed deal and must be pushed further if Greater Manchester and other combined authorities are to scale up the advantages of devolution.