Hello,
So now we know who the next Prime Minister will be - how will it affect Greater Manchester? Labour mayor Andy Burnham has offered some predictions, and warnings, to Liz Truss as she prepares to take on the top job.
We’ll be discussing that, as well as changes on the trains and buses and the prospect of a £20 pint in today's newsletter. Let’s get started.
In Liz we Truss?
We seem to have reached the ‘dystopian future’ level of this game show we call life. On today’s This Morning, Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby were using a giant glittery Spin the Wheel prop to offer viewers the chance to have their energy bills paid.
I’m sure the show’s producers had good intentions. They no doubt thought they were capturing the public mood. But raffling off one of the most basic of human needs - warmth - like a prize pig was perhaps a little tone deaf.
Anyway, hopefully it won’t matter. As she’s told us, Liz Truss has a plan to ease the burden on households this winter. But we’ll have to wait a week to find out what it is. Hopefully she won’t keep it a secret for too much longer. Will she freeze energy bills? We’ll just have to wait and see.
Admired from Kyiv to Carlisle
That’s how Liz Truss described her pal Boris Johnson. I wonder if that’s really how he would want to be remembered on his last day as Prime Minister though?
We’ve all got plenty of memories of the outgoing PM. In fact The Northern Agenda team have so many that they’ve handily compiled them into a video, Boris Johnson and the North: A Love Story, which you can watch here.
In it Bury South MP Christian Wakeford - who crossed the floor from the Conservatives to Labour - said the PM's legacy in towns like his was one of ‘failure, of misrepresenting, of broken promises’. But the leader of Bury Conservatives, Coun Russell Bernstein, said Mr Johnson's legacy was ‘outstanding’.
Not much more cheerful
Liz Truss calls herself a straight talking Yorkshire woman. And she certainly hasn’t held back on Andy Burnham.
During her leadership campaign she tore into the ‘miserablist mayor’ for backing ‘militant’ trade unions and accused him of not wanting opportunities for people in Greater Manchester. So how does Mr Burnham plan to build a good relationship with our new Prime Minister?
When he spoke to The Mancunian Way this afternoon he admitted he was ‘not much more cheerful’ than when he was first branded 'miserable'. But he says he’s willing to work with Ms Truss and the government to help residents facing the cost of living crisis.
“A lot gets said in leadership campaigns. I have been around long enough to know that,” he says. “We are ready to work with her. We can actually do a lot to get things moving in terms of the plans we have got that could bring growth to the economy that she has spoken about.”
Ms Truss has already promised to unveil a plan to help households with energy bills within the next week. Mr Bunrham says the cost of living crisis must be approached in much the same way as the pandemic - with cross party working and policies that ‘truly help people’.
He says the This Morning segment mentioned above was a ‘terrifying’ sign of the times. “Energy is seen as some sort of luxury product to win in a gameshow. Where have we got as a country when we can’t guarantee the basics?”
Mr Burnham says Ms Truss appears ‘down to earth’ and he remembers getting on well with her when he was an MP. But he warns that some of her statements during the leadership campaign are ‘the polar opposite of what people in the North need right now’. “She was preaching a diet of deregulation and Thatcherism - these are the things that got us in a total mess. If anything we need the opposite,” he says.
He is also calling for a new approach on Levelling Up - if indeed that policy survives into the new administration. The mayor also says the government needs to ‘call time’ on the process of towns and cities being pitched against each other for funding. “They have over politicised the allocation of public money. We need to get back to a way of working that’s about fairness. We need far more togetherness and a bit more unity.”
Amid all the ‘argy bargy’ of various campaign promises, Mr Burnham says one caught his ear - Ms Truss’s promise to deliver Northern Powerhouse Rail in full. “Those two words ‘in full’ are critical. To me that means a new line, not half a line via Bradford, and the right solution at Manchester Piccadilly,” he says. “It means doing it properly. I would of course welcome that. I think she has an opportunity to reset the Levelling Up narrative in the North. And we stand ready to work with her on it.”
For his part the mayor insists he is willing to work with the new PM, but proffers a warning. “The Conservative Party is running out of time in the North. It has made a lot of promises but failed to deliver on a lot of them. Liz Truss has an opportunity, but that window is closing. If she lets the North of England down again the Tories will be in trouble.”
Weather, etc.
Tuesday: Cloudy changing to light showers by the afternoon. 22C.
Roads closed: A57 Eccles New Road westbound for roadworks from Stott Lane to Gilda Brook Road until September 12.
Trams: No service on Metrolink between Eccles and MediaCityUK due to engineering works until October 21.
Today's Manc trivia question: Which former Prime Minister stood for election in Oldham in 1899 and lost?
Answer at the bottom of the newsletter
On the buses
Capped bus fares started in Manchester over the weekend and for many, it will be a real boon. Single fares are £2 for adults and £1 for children while a day ticket for all buses across Greater Manchester will now cost £5.
But as with any scheme aimed at making things fairer, there will always be some losers. Local democracy reporter Joseph Timan has been speaking to commuters who say they will actually end up paying more now the cap has come in.
Andy Burnham says slashing fares is the first step towards a better system, but accepts more needs to be done. Recognising that weekly tickets remain the best value option for many regular passengers, he has promised to look at capping these tickets too.
Manchester headlines
Trains: Avanti looks set to have its West Coast mainline contract renewed, despite slashing the timetable and cancelling services. Boss Phil Whittingham is set to leave his post following severe criticism from passengers and politicians. The company has blamed striking workers for the chaos - and Andy Burnham says Avanti is in a 'last chance saloon'.
All aboard: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle apparently took the train to Manchester today. The Mail reports that they were spotted going into a side entrance of London Euston ahead of their appearance at the One Young World summit, where the Duchess is due to give a keynote speech. Greater Manchester Police told The Sun the event would not receive a dedicated police resource and is being ‘privately secured’.
A £20 pint: The Campaign for Real Ale (Camra) say the price of a pint would rise to a ‘ridiculous’ £20 in order to match the increasing running costs that landlords now face. Chief executive Tom Stainer says thousands of pubs could be forced to close because it just isn’t ‘viable’ for pubs to raise the cost of alcohol to cover their soaring energy bills. He said some pubs were seeing bills go up by 500% to 600%.
Worth a read
Tina Hill started taking ecstasy at 13. She says that moment led to a long-term battle with addiction. And she saw some of her friends die from overdoses.
In the second part of a special report on drug use in Greater Manchester, Helena Vesty has spoken to Tina about how she now helps others kick their habits.
That's all for today
Thanks for joining me, the next edition of the Mancunian Way will be with you around the same time tomorrow. If you have any stories you would like us to feature or look into, please email: beth.abbit@menmedia.co.uk
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The answer to today’s trivia question, which former Prime Minister stood for election in Oldham in 1899 and lost, is Winston Churchill.
