Tory candidate’s radical plans to ‘cut two drifting towns’ out of Wigan council and scrap Greater Manchester mayor

Radical plans to abolish the mayor’s role in Greater Manchester and for Leigh and Atherton to be “removed” from Wigan council control have been put forward by a Tory candidate. Former Wigan mayor Michael Winstanley is vying to replace Tory MP James Grundy, who is not seeking re-election in the seat he took from Labor in Leigh and Atherton for the first time in 2019.

Mr Winstanley, 53, was speaking after he was selected as the Conservative candidate last week. He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that he had always been against the creation of the role of mayor of Greater Manchester, currently held by Andy Burnham, and called for a referendum on whether it should continue.

“If we’re going to have one, there should be a proper structure to hold it to account,” he said. “There used to be four scrutiny committees at the Greater Manchester Combined Authority but now there is only one and the fire Authority has been abolished and he (Andy Burnham) takes credit for every government initiative that comes out, for example the £2 cap on fares bus, which was a national initiative.

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“All he has done since coming into office is increase the mayor’s precept (included in council tax to pay for services like fire and police) so people are worse off. If you want a blueprint for what Sir Keir Starmer would do if he came to power, look at what Andy Burnham is doing in Greater Manchester.”

Mr Winstanley, who previously stood unsuccessfully for Bolton North East Parliament (in 2001); Blackpool South (in 2005) and in Wigan (2010), pointed to millions of pounds pouring into Wigan council to boost Leigh and Atherton while sitting MP Mr Grundy sat out.

These include £20m from the Future Towns Fund; £11.5 million from the Leveling Up Fund for the regeneration of Leigh town centre; £13m for Wigan and Leigh College as part of its bid to become part of the new Greater Manchester Institute of Technology; £1 million to regenerate Tyldesley town center through the community-led Heritage Action Area and the £20 million extension to Leigh Infirmary.

Mr Winstanley continued: “The people of Leigh and Atherton have been disappointed by Wigan council’s lack of ambition. They want to be cut adrift with their own council in Leigh town hall which is still standing.

“If there is anything that demonstrates Labour’s incompetence, it is the way they run this council. We are reaping the results of 50 years of failure. We were held back (in Leigh and Atherton) because the council was not ready for the funding it received over the last four years. Millions and millions have been allocated to Leigh and Atherton by the Government – far more than was ever allocated by Labor before 2010, but they have been too slow to do anything.”

Mr Winstanley was born and raised in Ashton-in-Makerfield, where he lives just yards from the boundary of the constituency he wants to represent in Westminster. He was previously a councilor for Wigan for a total of 16 years, part of which was as leader of the opposition Conservative group. He was the ceremonial mayor in 2010-11.

Mr Winstanly has spent his entire working career in the NHS and is currently at its business services authority, which processes pensions and manages electronic data.

Responding, a spokesman for Andy Burnham said: “The candidate for Leigh and Atherton appears to be following his national colleagues in making claims that are simply not based on facts or truths.”

They said Greater Manchester’s four scrutinies were scrapped following an independent review with the consent of the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats as well as Labour.

They also said the role of mayor of Greater Manchester was created by the Tories under George Osborne’s devolution deal. “Bus fares of £2 were introduced by Andy Burnham in March 2022 and followed by the government a few months later,” they said. “So Mr. Winstanley is simply wrong.”

Responding to Mr Winstanley’s comments, Wigan council deputy council leader Keith Cunliffe said: “We’ve had a Tory MP for Leigh for the last five years and nothing has happened (regarding the separation of Leigh and Atherton from Wigan).

“There is nothing Wigan council can do because it would need an act of parliament. It is a little ironic that a Tory MP and candidate is calling for this, as Wigan council was created in 1974 by a Tory government and Greater Manchester was created in the 1980s, again by a Tory government.

“So Mr Winstanley is asking for something to be reversed, which his party has done twice. It is also worth pointing out that such an authority as Mr Winstanley speaks of would be very small, perhaps around 70,000 people.

“In small authorities council tax for residents tends to be much higher. I think the people of Leigh and Wigan are much more concerned about the cost of living crisis, mortgage payments and higher energy bills.”

Meanwhile, Wigan’s Labor MP Lisa Nandy previously accused the Tories of “losing the plot” over proposals for “Lexit” – removing Leigh and Atherton from Wigan. She dismissed the idea that Labour-led Wigan were “doing nothing for Leigh”.

She said: “There’s always been a healthy rivalry between us and I’m perfectly happy to be involved in that as well. But they have invested in things like the Turnpike Gallery in Leigh, the arts and culture revival the council is trying to kick-start. , with a bit of help now from the Arts Council, was very focused on Leigh as the main driver of this.”