A day or two ago, David Ottewell made an interesting post about the proposed AGMA constitution.
For those less well-versed in local government jargon, AGMA is the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities, an umbrella organisation made up of the 10 Greater Manchester Councils, and most of the power lies within a meeting of the 10 Council leaders. It seems the Council leaders would (collectively) like a little bit more power, as well as the chance to railroad through certain measures (like, perhaps, the toll tax?) on a qualified majority.
As a backbench Councillor of course I’ve not been privy to this discussion at all. I understand we’ll be having a detailed discussion on the document in the early summer and I look forward to a robust debate. The AGMA document potentially takes decisions about Salford away from Salford residents and it would be completely unacceptable if Labour were to rush this through without proper scrutiny.
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