Greater Manchester Mayor receives petition from local democracy campaigners

Rashid Mahr, Joe Taylor, Interim Greater Manchester Mayor Tony Lloyd, David Fernandez-Arias

Interim Greater Manchester Mayor, Tony Lloyd, has received a petition from campaigners who have called for local democracy to be a top priority as powers are devolved from Westminster to Greater Manchester.

Mr Lloyd met with organisers of the Greater Manchester demands: make local democracy a top priority for real devolution petition that has been signed by thousands of people on the 38 Degrees website.

The petitioners want to ensure that the decisions being made here in Greater Manchester benefit all Greater Manchester people, not just the few. They want the process of devolving and taking decisions in Greater Manchester to be transparent and deliver real social, environmental, economic and democratic benefits.

Speaking after meeting with the campaigners, Mr Lloyd said: “Devolution is about making decisions here, not in Westminster, that work for the people of Greater Manchester. We will reshape our public services, grow our economy and improve the lives of people right across Greater Manchester.

“I  know we can do more to ensure that people know what is happening in Greater Manchester and how it will deliver real benefits in their community.

“That’s why I wanted to meet Joe and his fellow campaigners today. I wanted to talk to them about the work we’re doing to engage with communities and get their take on our plan to improve the lives of people across Greater Manchester.”

Petition organiser Joe Taylor, of Unlock Democracy, said: "Tony is the first to accept that real local democracy for 2.8 million citizens of Greater Manchester is about more than electing a mayor and needs to be structurally embedded as a primary priority for local decision-making and civic engagement. Alongside ambitions for world class public transport we need world class local democratic engagement.

"We are hopeful of a positive response to the petition, from thousands over the weekend before the Parliamentary select committee in Manchester last October, to include local democracy with the other 17 Greater Manchester Strategic Priorities. We welcome Tony's support for the upcoming People's Plan public engagement initiative - watch this space.”