When Andy Burnham was elected MP for Makerfield and therefore forced to quit as Mayor of Greater Manchester, Reform UK saw its chance following its dramatic gains in the local elections
Their candidate Sian Astley,local business woman and former Labour supporter who has been in Manchester for thirty five years has taken the mantle in what are difficult times nationally for the party with its leader under scrutiny, illegal immigrstion falling nationally and asylum hotels closing
None of these issues can of course be controlled by a Mayor of Greater Manchester but Sian has a plan and we spoke to her at the end of last week
For many years she tells us she has seen unfairness,disproportionate allocation of funding and investment of which little if any has trickled down to the boroughs
There has she says been a Labour stranglehold for so many years and people are fed up with it
”They are fed up of decisions being imposed on them that they don’t like…At ground level those policies don’t deliver”
A classic example of the non working is she says the amount of investment that has gone on in the City Centre, the billion pound in the housing investment loan fund, the £600m given to one developer in the City Centre
”We have built all these shiny towers which primarily have benefited overseas investors and the very wealthy ….and yet when you read the figures how much affordable housing has been delivered?
If there is one word to describe her policies it is scrutiny-In our half hour long interview it came up again and again no more so than in the questionable deals as she describes them
Four per cent of the population of Greater Manchester live in the City Centre she says but sixty per cent of housing money has gone there
She questions how the deals were so strong financially that they were backed by the authorities and yet the developers would then claim that the finance was too weak to make provision for affordable housing
”Full due diligence should be done on any loans, any loan over a million pounds should be published in full and meetings need to be recorded and published with no behind the scenes secret deals”
Where Reform councils have come into power, many of the savings that they claimed that they would carry out have come to nothing when they have opened the books to find that everything has already been cut to the bone
Would this happen in Manchester? Sian disagrees wholeheartedly and cites the example of Lancashire County Council where its leader Stephen Atkinson has uncovered procurement savings
“Go and speak to them-I can tell you they are turning things around”
Every single pound spent should have the proviso that it should be delivering value to its residents she tells us rather than just a few selected people
We move onto policing.Greater Manchester Police were in special measures just a few years ago but the new Chief Constable, an Andy Burnham appointment it must be said has turned things around
“He is making all the right noises” says Sian but she would like to things go further.A strict timetable for improvements and milestones, no race action plans
“ I want a police force and not a police service”
People she says want more of a visible police force in trouble neighbourhoods and in town centres, they are sick of seeing drug taking on the streets and shoplifting
She believes that the Chief Constable would be behind these ideas and would look forward to working with him
Of course on the subject of working with people there are currently ten council leaders who no doubt oppose most if not all of the things that Reform UK would do in power
The optimistic Sian believes that in a year’s time things will be different with local elections next May delivering a replica of this May’s results which would see. In many cases Reform UK running those councils, pointing at Tameside,Wigan and Salford in particular
Changing subjects again and we move to devolution, something certainly on the agenda of the new No 10-It can be a marvellous thing she says as long as you have the checks and balances in place
”it’s all very well setting up a No 10 in the North filled with all his buddies-People don’t want to see favouritism or cronyism, they want to see the best person for the job”
She thinks that we have to be so careful with devolution citing the cases of Scotland Wales where issues such as health equality and education which in some ways she describes as a bit of a disaster
We talk about education,and Sian says the jury is out on the Greater Manchester Baccalaureate but she agrees with its premise that more young people need to be geared towards training which benefits the jobs that the economy needs and she would like GMCA going forward to be working with local businesses including the funding of apprenticeships
To Transport and the Bee Network inspires she tells us
“Any sensible politician would be looking at extending the network and investing but we have to face financially realities -Already the Bee Network is 50 per cent subsidised but she accepts that the network is investing for the wider good
The network should be safer, there should be a lot more travel safe employees and their training should be fully funded with troublesome routes clamped down on
Sian unlike other parties has not committed to giving free travel to 11-16 year olds-It needs to be examined she believes -She tells us she has had messages from people who work on the network worried that they are going to get kids running riot on the buses
The conversation brings us to climate change -Some in her party have made their feelings known
Sian is adamant that Net Zero has gone too far-It has damaged our economy and the target date has been brought too far forward meaning that it has negatively impacted on the economy both nationally and in Greater Manchester
There is she says talk that on the Bee Network of more fully Green electric buses at £500K a time while diesel buses cost £160K
”We should be aiming to be the greenest we can but when we put that above all other considerations that is a mistake
Sian has been very vocal on what she describes as the concerted attack on motorists
In a recent social media post she cited Labour’s attack on the car reminding people that Andy Burnham attempted to charge residents who rely on vehicles for work £10 a day.
The scheme was rejected but the whole thing cost taxpayers over £100 million.
“On top of that, we are still spending £375,000 a month on ANPR cameras for a cancelled scheme.
“Countless people across our boroughs drive every day to get to work – it’s an essential part of life. Labour believe that only 50% of journeys should be made by car and they’ll always find ways to punish residents for using them.”
adding that
All the while, Greater Manchester’s roads are in an utter state. Pothole damage can cost drivers over £130 and the typical Manchester driver loses 62 hours a year sitting in traffic.
She has pledged to permanently scrap net zero measures that punish drivers and replace them with policies that make sense for motorists and launch a full review into the real cost of the Clean Air Zone including the with council leaders to scrap 20mph speed limits everywhere apart from around schools
Finally the elephant in the room and immigration-Of course a Mayor of Greater Manchester has no control over immigration policies but she tells us her concerns over crimes committed by asylum seekers, people she says that councils are seeking to house across Greater Manchester
“It is just not on-People are frightened out there and not without good cause”
