The race to replace Liz Truss as Prime Minister is now firmly underway. Ms Truss became the UK's shortest-ever serving Prime Minister when she resigned on Thursday after a calamatious few weeks in power, saying it was clear she no longer had a mandate to deliver her agenda.
The race to succeed her will require someone to have the backing of 100 Tory MPs, with Rishi Sunak, Boris Johnson and Penny Mordaunt the frontrunners. Nominations close on Monday before the decision could go back to Conservative party members to decide.
The whole process will be completed inside a week, party chiefs have promised, meaning by next Friday, October 28, the country will have a new PM.
READ NEXT: Who Greater Manchester's Tory MPs want to become Prime Minister
We asked a number of prominent political voices and other local leaders in the region for their views on what the biggest issues were affecting people in Greater Manchester - and what they wanted to see the new incumbent of Number 10 Downing Street tackle.
A general election
Tory MPs are now set to elect their second new leader since the general election of 2019. Immediately following Ms Truss' resignation, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the country needed an immediate general election, saying: "We can't just allow the Tory party to keep putting up the next candidate in the middle of this chaos.
“They do not have the mandate to put the country through yet another experiment." Greater Manchester's Mayor Andy Burnham echoed that, tweeting: "We can't go on like this #GeneralElectionNow."
On Friday, Blackley and Broughton MP Graham Stringer said the need for an election was the primary issue facing the entire country: "The Conservatives are in such chaos and disarray, I don't believe they are going to deliver anything meaningful," he said.
"They have made such a mess of the country, they have turned us into a laughing stock so letting the electorate decide on a new government would be most the important thing they could deliver, I believe."
This view was echoed by all his Labour colleagues. Wythenshawe and Sale East MP Mike Kane said it was a "sheer shambles of incompetence" and that "things need to change." Whilst Stockport MP Nav Mishra said that "whoever comes in needs to make sure they have a mandate from the public."
Who do you want to see become Prime Minister? Or should a general election be held? Have your say in our comments.
The economy and austerity
All those the M.E.N. spoke to said the PM would have to immediately get a grip on the current economic turmoil.
Manchester Central MP Lucy Powell said: "It's the economy first and foremost, as what Truss and the Conservatives have done to the economy over the last few weeks has massively exacerbated what was already a difficult context and made it much worse.
"And the implications of that for mortgage holders and businesses to borrow money to invest or buy homes is massive.
"But also the implication that the absolute tanking of the economy will have on public services and investment on infrastructure, the Levelling Up agenda and all of that. So stabilising the economy is the most important task as everything will flow from that really."
"They need to make sure all their sums add up and we need a credible plan for growth," she added.
"I don't think any of the contenders are going to be able to do that in the way it needs to be done. I think it will take a change of government.
"But whoever comes in needs to have a plan for the economy, but not one which sort of goes back to austerity, but is a plan that is fully costed but invests in growth, invests in the regions and people so we can grow the economy sustainably."
Mr Burnham said in an opinion piece in the London Evening Standard, published on Friday, that: "Cutting public services at a time when people can't afford to keep warm or eat is a very bad move."
The leader of Manchester City Council, Coun Bev Craig, said "12 years of austerity" had already "pushed public services to the brink" and that "the new Prime Minister must be absolutely clear that austerity and cuts to services is not the way to recover from this crash."
"I've been leader of the city council for a year now and I didn't think I'd see three Prime Ministers in that period," she said. "But the ask of Manchester remains consistent.
"Our approach has to be to the city before a political party. And we'll continue to make those cases with the new Prime Minister, as we do every Prime Minister, around re-balancing, inequality, changing the way our economy works and investing in Manchester to make sure we're able to improve opportunities for our residents.
"The frustration comes when every time someone new comes in, they sweep away all of the ideas of the past and we all start again but we've been consistent throughout. But my confidence is low."
Cost of living
The effect of the current economic downturn has been a cost of living crisis, and all respondents said the real-life effect of the current economic situation on people's lives alaways had to be at the forefront of the PM and government's mind.
Wythenshawe MP Mike Kane said one of the issues constituents complained to him most about, and sought help with, was debt. "It's mainly utility bills" he said. "It's gas and electric going through the roof. So we need some assurances on that."
Coun Craig agreed. "We have seen temporary assistance for people with their energy bills but we know in Manchester too many people are facing the reality of poverty over the winter.
"But the government need to respond rapidly to the economic recession with the same kind of response with which they responded to Covid."
One local business chief said the consequences of inflation would not just be felt by households but businesses as well, and also called for urgent action.
Chris Fletcher, policy director at the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce, said: "There is still confusion and concern over how the rapid rises in costs and inflation can be dealt with and for many businesses the long-term effects of Brexit and Covid are still having a major impact on their business.
"The last few months have seen a succession of meaningless slogans produced whilst the real-world impact of current economic conditions make for challenging times for business.
"Whoever gets the keys to Number 10 next will have to hit the ground running with genuine action whose benefits are actually felt in real life, not just produce numbers that may look good on paper."
Housing
"The priority for my constituency, first and foremost, is housing," said Stockport MP Mr Mishra. "Mortgage rates have gone up but rent has as well. Not everyone can afford a mortgage.
"We have had successive Conservative governments talking about affordable housing, affordable rents, all of that. But we haven't seen any actions on Section 21 evictions."
Section 21 is the legal process by which landlords can force tenants to leave rented properties. "The government has been promising to change the legislation on that for years," Mr Mishra said. "But there has been no action. Liz Truss had indicated she was going to stop Section 21 evictions, then indicated she wasn't, then said she was again. So housing is a massive issue."
"My casework management system produces a word cloud and always at the top is housing. It's always number one," said Mr Kane. "We need more adequate housing. We need more social homes but also in the prevented rented sector.
"We're having to enter a Levelling Up bid just to try and begin to build 100 new homes on a brownfield site in Wythenshawe town centre and it shouldn't be that difficult. That needs to be looked at."
Mr Stringer and Ms Powell also said a commitment to build more social homes in the region was near the top of their wishlists.
Transport
Another urgent, key issue in Greater Manchester is transport. Issues with the services currently being offered by Avanti West Coast - but also other rail firms serving Greater Manchester - have generated anger amongst many of those representing the region, most notably Mr Burnham.
Coun Craig said train services across the north has "essentially ground to a halt."
"I think Andy Burnham has done some really good work on bus franchising. But if you look at the sorry state of Avanti West Coast, they are terrible not only for the environment but also for congestion on our roads. And it's causing sheer frustration amongst passengers, but also staff.
"So Avanti, and public transport in general, is a massive issue. It also impacts the regional economy., it impacts businesses. Greater Manchester, the North West, the West Midlands have lots of tourism hotspots, it affects all that. So we need to see action."
Ms Powell agreed, saying: "Investing in infrastructure is a different kind of investment than unfunded tax cuts and they (the new PM) need to understand that."
Mr Fletcher, from the GM Chamber of Commerce, said: "It is vital the new PM quickly unblocks the waiting lists in government departments on crucial issues and policies that have been promised and talked about but not yet delivered." For example, the region needed "clarity" on the future of key infrastructure projects, "especially as regards the rail network", he said.
""Many local areas are playing a long waiting game for decisions on pots of funding that could help kickstart growth," he added.
Despite his belief that an election is the only way forward, Mr Stringer said: "In fantasy land, what I would like them to do would be promise to carry on with HS2; a commitment on those plans and the Northern rail link, Manchester to Leeds.
"But there's something very pious about that as I don't expect them to do very much.. Having wasted hundreds of billions of pounds over the last three years or so they haven't got much money to play with."
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