Greater Manchester Mayoral Election
Biography:
I am Dan Barker and I am Reform UK's candidate for the Greater Manchester Mayoral election on Thursday 2nd May.
Greater Manchester is my home. I have raised two children here, run a business here and in my spare time, it is my privilege to serve as a Magistrate. We have fantastic schools, are home to top sports teams, and our industries drive technological innovation across the world.
…Yet despite our region’s undeniable potential, I know that ordinary people across Greater Manchester want change.
7 years ago, you entrusted the future of our region to a Labour Mayor – an historic opportunity to provide the leadership Greater Manchester needed to improve the lives of all of us that live here.
But all that Labour’s Mayor has delivered is 7 years of Failure:
- Crime at a 7 year high
- Our Police force in and out of special measures
- 300% hike in the Mayoral portion of Council Tax
- Spiralling rents
- Mass Housing shortage
- Chaos & waste on his bungled Clean Air Zone
It is clear that Labour’s Mayor for Greater Manchester has no plan to turn things around.
You deserve better.
My plan for Greater Manchester is simple: safer streets, a growing economy, better connectivity, more money in your pocket and building homes for the future. As your Mayor I will ensure that no community or place is left behind.
My Plan and Pledges for Greater Manchester
1. Take back our streets – I will reduce crime and tackle anti-social behaviour with a back-to-basics approach to policing.
- Take back control of the Police & Crime Commissioner role – no offloading to deputies.
- Work with Greater Manchester Police to improve their service for all users.
- Back the Chief Constable to tackle the difficult issues like Stop & Search and policing protests.
- Reopen Police counters in local towns and communities.
- Ensure that visible community policing is maintained and increased.
- Zero tolerance approach to consumption of illegal drugs in public places.
2. Get GM Building – I will accelerate new home delivery with a brownfield first policy to reduce spiraling rents and protect our precious greenbelt.
- Reduce spiralling rental costs by delivering new homes faster that are nearer to schools, shops, transport networks and workplaces.
- Remove the greenbelt allocations from Places for Everyone regional plan.
- Enforce affordable and social housing commitments for existing developments.
- Increase affordable and social housing targets on all future developments.
- Encourage SME builders to get involved in delivering new homes on brownfield site across Greater Manchester.
3. Better connectivity for Everyone – I will continue the rollout of the Bee Network & deliver genuine cross-connectivity by bringing the Metrolink to places like Stockport, Leigh, Heywood, Bolton and Partington.
- Creation of new routes to service real demand.
- Creation of cross-connecting routes across Greater Manchester.
- Ensure the Bee Network becomes self-funding without the need for increased council taxes or government bailouts.
4. Restore trust in local government – I will remove the CAZ cameras and pause all new cycle lane development pending a fit-for-purpose review.
- Remove the CAZ cameras.
- All new cycle lanes will be subject to a test for potential impacts on local businesses, increased congestion and forecast usage rates by cyclists.
- No congestion charging.
- No pay-per-mile charging.
- Opposed to creation of ‘15-minute cities’.
- Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTN’s) need a ‘super-majority’ local support (e.g. 80%) to go ahead.
5. A Growing Economy – I will deliver an economic growth plan for ALL of Greater Manchester, not just the city centre.
- A key focus will be on left-behind areas and towns – ‘levelling-up’ Greater Manchester with plans to bring new investment, jobs and training opportunities.
- I will create a new Freeport or enterprise zone for Greater Manchester – slashing the cost of doing business in our region and bringing more investment into local jobs.
- I will also work with the Government to bring fresh investment into new and emerging industries so that our region will be at the forefront of innovation once again.
- Free parking across Greater Manchester at all GMCA-owned parking facilities to increase foot-fall in our town centres and boost small businesses and retail.
- Provide a helping hand by treating startups in as charities i.e. with reduced business rates for first two years as long as they are providing local employment.
6. Rough-Sleepers and Homelessness – I commit to maintaining and improving the level of support currently provided for rough-sleepers across Greater Manchester.
- I will undertake a review of all arrangements currently in place both public, private and VCSE that support homeless and rough-sleepers to identify any potential improvements and efficiencies that can be implemented in their delivery and coordination.
- I will review the status and justification for the numbers and average duration of stay for those vulnerable individuals and groups in Temporary Accommodation across GMCA to ensure they are not being adversely affected.
- I will examine alternative solutions that could be trialed to help homeless and rough-sleepers to get back on their feet and become self-supporting again.
7. Devolution & Democracy – I commit to provide an independence referendum for those Boroughs currently in the GMCA, that want one such as Bolton, to confirm if they want to remain part of ‘Greater Manchester’.
So, after Andy Burnham’s 7 years of failure, Greater Manchester deserves better and with your support on May 2, we can make it happen.
Read my latest press articles:
https://www.express.co.uk/comment/expresscomment/1887907/andy-burnham-manchester-liverpool-hs2
https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/labours-metro-mayors-and-seven-years-of-dismal-failure/
Find your polling station:
Find election information at WhoCanIVoteFor.co.uk
