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Here's the Mancunian Way for today:
Hello,
I hope you all had a pleasant weekend. It was lovely to get that extra hour of daylight yesterday. Especially as we wait for the plants and flowers to spring into life.
In today’s newsletter, we’ll be talking about what Greater Manchester Police is doing to improve outcomes for survivors and root out bad apples. We’ll also be looking at the town set for a massive expansion where residents say they just want a good night’s sleep.
But first, I want to talk about the Greater Manchester MP caught in an embarrassing sting.
£6k a day for Sir Graham
He’s one of the most powerful MPs in Westminster - but he'll soon be leaving Parliament. And it seems Sir Graham Brady is already looking at his future job prospects.
The Altrincham and Sale West MP, who also chairs the powerful 1922 Committee of backbenchers, recently announced he would be stepping down at the next general election. And though he already has three other jobs, he was happy to discuss how he could earn a little more.
That's how he was caught up in a sting, telling a non-existent company his annual rate for consultancy is around £60,000.
He also claimed Conservative party bosses would allow him time off from Westminster to carry out work for the company during the video call about a job as a board member for a fake South Korean firm. “I have a, I suppose, a degree of seniority within my party, which means that I'm given a little bit of flexibility that perhaps not all of my colleagues would have. So, yes. So I don't think that would be a problem at all,” he said. However the MP did insist there may be ‘emergency occasions’ if ‘something dramatic was happening in British politics’.
Sir Graham was duped by the campaigning group Led By Donkeys, which has since shared footage of the fake interview online. He says he has received a number of approaches regarding future opportunities having decided to leave the Commons at the next election.
“I did have an exploratory discussion with someone purporting to be recruiting an international advisory board for a South Korean investment house,” he says. “I made it clear that any arrangement would have to be completely transparent and that whilst a Member of Parliament, I would only act within the terms of the Code of Conduct. I also made it clear that whilst I could be flexible in attending international meetings in person, this would be subject to some important votes and commitments at Westminster.”
Former Tory ministers Matt Hancock and Kwasi Kwarteng were also caught in the sting. Mr Hancock claimed his daily rate for consultancy is £10,000, while Mr Kwarteng quoted that figure as a monthly rate.
A mountain to climb
Baroness Louise Casey’s report into the Metropolitan Police, published last week, made for harrowing reading. And there was a fascinating line in there from an anonymous police officer who said of The Met: “If you look at our performance around rape, serious sexual offences, the detection rate is so low you may as well say it's legal in London.”
That perception does not just affect The Met. One barrister working in Greater Manchester last year told my colleague Sophie Halle-Richards that an increasingly hostile court environment for victims and a fall in post-pandemic prosecutions could soon lead to the 'decriminalisation of rape'. And Dame Vera Baird QC, the victims' commissioner for England and Wales, has said the criminal justice system is already enabling perpetrators to carry on offending. "In effect, what we are witnessing is the decriminalisation of rape. In doing so, we are failing to give justice to thousands of complainants," she wrote in a recent report.
As we recently reported in the Mancunian Way, 2.4 per cent of adult rapes investigated by Greater Manchester Police last year led to a criminal charge or summons after officers finished considering the evidence. Senior officers have already accepted the rate is too low.
Those figures prompted experts, including Anne Stebbings of Greater Manchester Rape Crisis, to claim rape victims have been ‘failed‘. Anne blamed the disbanding of specialist rape investigation units. Meanwhile, Survivors Manchester chief executive Duncan Craig says GMP ‘still have a mountain to climb’ with regards rape and serious sexual offences.
At the same time, 82 GMP officers are being investigated for sexual misconduct and 141 employees have been accused of violence against women and girls. And the force last year paid out damages to two women over botched sexual assault and rape probes. One was awarded £8,000 after she was told 'nothing would come' of her rape complaint. And a homeless woman was awarded damages when she reported a man came into her tent in Manchester city centre and put his hands in her clothes. Officers attended but she maintains they only spoke to her in the back of a patrol car. No formal statements were taken, and, while CCTV was reviewed, the case was closed.
Sophie has been speaking to campaigners and senior GMP officers about these statistics and how they may affect public confidence. For their part, GMP say they are confident the findings of the Casey report into The Met 'don't represent the whole of policing’ and insist new GMP chief constable Stephen Watson has been doing much to root out officers who have abused their positions. They point to his 100 per cent dismissal rate when it comes to disciplinary proceedings, which is higher than across the country's other 43 police forces.
But former detective turned whistle-blower Maggie Oliver claims victims and survivors she speaks to are not being listened to. She says survivors she supports through her foundation claim they are being ‘pushed away and judged’. “Rape is virtually being decriminalised because victims have no trust in the system and at the foundation we are picking up the pieces because they don't want to engage with the police,” she says. She does however speak of a better relationship with GMP since Mr Watson became chief constable.
Detective Chief Superintendent Michaela Kerr, GMP’s head of Public Protection, says dedicated rape units don’t necessarily equate to better outcomes. She says 'better initial attendance', 'better culture' and 'better training’ does. “I want every single officer and member of staff in this force to know how to treat victims at the first point of contact,” she says.
She says she was ‘really saddened’ by the Casey report but can reassure people GMP takes the responsibility to investigate, look after and support victims extremely seriously. “So please don't think the things you have read should put you off reporting to GMP,” she says.
Deputy Mayor Kate Green was so appalled by the case of former Met police officer David Carrick that she ordered a report to understand the scale of sexual misconduct cases being investigated within GMP. During a police, fire and crime panel in January, she revealed that 82 police officers - equating to one per cent of the force - were being investigated for sexual offences or misconduct. A further 20 officers are awaiting disciplinary proceedings, the force confirmed. The police watchdog later revealed that a senior officer in the force was among those being investigated in relation to allegations of sexual harassment.
"We cannot have a single case of an officer accused of this type of behaviour," Ms Green said. She says she has 'full confidence' in the commitment of the chief constable but realises women and girls need to see ‘a whole system approach’ to keep them safe.
To that end, Chief Superintendent Mike Allen - head of the force's Professional Standards Branch - says policing sadly sometimes attracts people who want to abuse power - and they will be sacked and barred.
"I won't say there are not people working within GMP that aren't racist, sexist, homophobic and misogynistic, there clearly are because we are identifying those people,” he says. "To say there aren't individual problems would be utterly naïve. But do we have a culture of racism, homophobia and misogyny? I am quite confident in saying there isn't that culture.”
Each member of GMP’s workforce is currently being re-vetted. It’s likely this will result in further criminal investigations or disciplinary action being triggered. "There has not been one complaint whatsoever from staff associations that represent our workforce because everyone gets it," Supt Allen says. "Nobody in GMP wants to work with a corrupt officer."
The next stop will be Old Oak Common
HS2 WILL reach Manchester - but high-speed trains might not travel all the way to central London. That’s according to Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove, who refused to guarantee that HS2 will terminate at Euston during an interview on Channel 4's The Andrew Neil Show.
Instead, the high-speed line could terminate at Old Oak Common, near to Wormwood Scrubs, in West London. Mr Gove even suggested the option could be considered as a 'levelling up' project, claiming the area is in need of regeneration.
“There is a debate about whether or not it should be Old Oak Common or Euston. Old Oak Common is going to be a major area for regeneration but we want to make sure as many people as possible can benefit not just from the additional rail infrastructure but also from the regeneration that HS2 can bring. So the Old Oak Common area is a part of north-west London that requires levelling up,” he said.
Greater Manchester is expected to face a 20-year wait for HS2 trains after a delay was announced earlier this month. Some estimates suggest the 225mph railway will cost £106bn.
The children strip-searched
A total of 20 children were strip-searched by Greater Manchester Police over a four-year period, new figures have revealed. That represents just one per cent of the total number of searches carried out under police stop-and-search powers between 2018 and mid-2022.
The force says 19 of the searches were on boys and one was on a girl. In 13 of the 20 cases, illegal items were found. Seven of the searches resulted in an arrest, as Paul Britton reports.
The figures have been published by the office of the Children's Commissioner for England. In Cheshire, the figure stands at 10, with 56 children strip-searched by police in neighbouring Lancashire over the same period. GMP stressed officers 'undertake rigorous and regular training', and said it would review the report carefully.
The commissioner ordered the report after the Child Q scandal which came to light last March, in which a 15-year-old black schoolgirl was strip-searched by police while on her period after being wrongly suspected of carrying cannabis at school. Scotland Yard later apologised and said the strip-search at the girl's school in 2020 without another adult present 'should never have happened'.
Manchester Day parade scrapped
It looks like we’re losing the Manchester Day parade this year. Instead, the event's hours will be extended into the evening for new night time celebrations.
It’s been billed as a revamp by Manchester Council, with bosses saying it will become the 'Manchester Day and Night' event. But it also comes as the cabinet has been working to balance the books and make huge savings. Though New Year’s Eve and Christmas events have been saved for another year, the council-funded Bonfire Night celebrations across the city are still set to be cancelled.
Councillor Pat Karney insists it's not to do with cutting costs but rather a case of trying something different. He has not ruled out the parade returning in future years. "The Manchester Day parade may come back, it's not gone forever. But once you've done so many parades you have to step back and think how to refresh it and do something new," he told Dianne Bourne.
The council say Manchester Day will be ‘bigger and better’ than ever with noon until 9pm celebrations on Saturday July 29. They’re working on the programme for the free event, but say extended hours will allow for night time celebrations including live music, pop-up performances, art installations and a market.
Mayor fined for speeding
Andy Burnham has been fined for speeding after he was caught doing 78mph on a section of motorway where the limit had been reduced to 40.
The mayor says he became distracted when he realised the junction he usually uses to exit the M62 had been closed and he had no idea the 'smart motorway' had reduced the limit to 40mph as he made his way home to Golborne, in Wigan. He accepted he was 'going too fast' during the incident on July 7 last year, however.
Court records show Mr Burnham's case was dealt with at Manchester and Salford Magistrates' Court on March 14. Mr Burnham, 53, admitted a single speeding offence. Justices fined him £1,353 and ordered him to pay a victim surcharge of £541. He was also told to pay £90 court costs. The mayor's licence was also endorsed with six penalty points.
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Weather etc
Temperatures: Cloudy changing to heavy rain by late morning. 10C.
Road closures: M67 Eastbound entry slip road closed due to long-term roadworks at J2 A57 Hyde Road (Denton). Until 1st December 2025.
A662 Pollard Street Westbound closed due to roadworks from Pollard Street to A665 Great Ancoats Street. Until 13th April.
Trivia question: Manchester Day has been held each summer since 2010. It’s inspired by the Thanksgiving parade in which American city?
Manchester headlines
Exhibition: A free exhibition of work by renowned music photographer Jill Furmanovsky will take place at Manchester’s Central Library from April 15 to June 24. The retrospective ‘Photographing the Invisible’ will include some of her most famous works, including images of Led Zeppelin, Chic, The Rolling Stones, Amy Winehouse and Van Halen. Jill has also dedicated a whole section of previously unseen images to Oasis. The show is guest-curated by photo-historian Gail Buckland and Noel, who says of Jill: “All the great portraits, they’re shot with love and respect for the artists. She’s the best.”
M56: An extra lane has opened on each carriageway of the M56 between Altrincham and Hale. It’s aimed at helping to improve journey times and reliability for the tens of thousands of drivers. National Highways lifted the traffic cones and barriers at 6am on the £85 million upgrade between junction 6 for Hale Barns and junction 8 at Bowdon. The section will run at a maximum of 60mph, with other interim safety measures in place, until work to calibrate technology, including stopped vehicle detection, is completed. The upgrade is then expected to fully open, with the 70mph maximum national speed limit restored, early this spring.
Delayed: Plans for a new estate of 112 homes have been delayed as the developer was offering no contribution to community services and infrastructure or building any affordable homes. Morris Homes North Ltd hope to build the homes on land north of 659 Radcliffe Road in the Darcy Lever area of Bolton. A meeting of Bolton’s planning committee heard the site is currently used for the most part for caravan storage with a house for the business owners and associated outbuildings. The green field part of the site is used for grazing horses. Eight of the homes planned would be on land designated as green belt and therefore subject to increased protection. A footpath at the site would also need to be diverted if the plans were approved. Objections to the plans were received by the council from 16 nearby addresses. More here.
Worth a read
“I just want a good night's sleep,” says Sylvia Shelmerdine. She lives in Carrington, the Trafford town best known for as the home of Manchester United's training ground.
Mrs Shelmerdine says she is so fed up of constant traffic and the sound of lorries thundering past her home on Manchester Road, she has even stayed in a B&B to get some peace and quiet.
“It never stops," she says. “The traffic is 24 hours a day. The lorries are one after another and they're doing 60mph. In the summer, you can't have the windows open. We can't sleep at night because of the traffic. The whole house shakes, it's terrible.”
Tom George has been speaking to residents in Carrington about life in an area plagued by traffic as the area is earmarked for up to 5,000 new homes and 350,000sqm of warehouse space.
You can read his feature here.
That's all for today
Thanks for joining me. If you have stories you would like us to look into, email beth.abbit@menmedia.co.uk.
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The answer to today's trivia question is: New York City.
