Labour leaders are ‘sticking together’ as Bolton bargains for its share of £60m

Labour leaders in Greater Manchester say they are ‘sticking together’ as Bolton bargains for its own share of a £60m pot offered by government.

Council leaders in the nine Labour-run authorities of the region say they will continue to negotiate for a financial support package from government through mayor Andy Burnham despite a breakdown in talks a few days ago.

It comes after the leader of Greater Manchester’s only Conservative-run council said he would be willing to do his own deal for Bolton businesses.

The government has said that the offer of £60m for Greater Manchester is still on the table – and Rochdale Council leader, Councillor Allen Brett said he and his colleagues have now accepted the £60m support package from government and now await further details - but leaders still don’t know how it will be divided and what it can be spent it on.

It comes after Greater Manchester reduced its request from £90m to £65m – but the government refused to pay a penny over £60m, it has been reported.

Businesses could now step in to help raise the remaining £5m they asked for.

Councillor Brett said: “We are trying to raise the ‘gap’ money from other sources and hopefully, as soon as we get the details, we can implement the scheme.”

He also said he can understand the ‘enormous pressure’ his Conservative counterpart was under, especially after Bolton has already been subjected to ‘Tier 3-plus’ with pubs forced to shut for most of September.

He added: “I can almost understand why he did it, but we would have liked to have stayed together.”

Bury’s council leader Eamonn O’Brien said the government has not even been clear about how the £60m figure was reached, let alone how it will be divided.

He said: “After two weeks of negotiations there was no mention of a ‘formula’ for calculating their offer, then suddenly they claimed it was all worked out from the beginning.

“This either shows they were negotiating in bad faith or pure incompetence.

“Regardless of how they want to split it, the easiest way of getting businesses and workers this support will be to hand it over centrally to Greater Manchester without delay and let us get on with helping the people we are here to serve.”

Trafford council boss Andrew Western says if Greater Manchester decides how to distribute the money, it will ‘of course’ be on the basis of need.

Salford mayor Paul Dennett said the government may do the sums itself.

He said: “If past examples are anything to go by, we would anticipate it will be distributed via a crude per-capita formula which takes no real account of business density, poverty or levels of need.”

How Bolton’s independent bargaining will affect the deal with government remains to be seen, but Wigan leader David Molyneux believes Bolton’s stance should not affect the way the rest of Greater Manchester works.

Bury’s leader says a borough-by-borough approach to restrictions has been a ‘nightmare’ for everyone in Greater Manchester, so it does not make sense to negotiate financial support packages on an individual borough basis either.

O’Brien added: “I hope Bolton will realise that we are stronger together in this.”

The directly-elected mayor of Salford also stands firmly with the Metro Mayor.

He said: “It was the Tories who imposed a mayor and associated governance on Greater Manchester as a prerequisite for devolution. Surely they would want to work with the arrangements they’ve insisted on creating?

“Bolton have opted to discuss with government outside of Greater Manchester structures – that’s their choice.

“But other leaders are working collectively, as we’ve always done in Greater Manchester, and holding strong with a consistent and robust message.”

Joseph Timan, Local Democracy Reporter