Leese says coalition cuts are worse than Thatchers’

THE proposed programme of public sector spending cuts could have a “significant” impact on businesses throughout Greater Manchester, according to Manchester City Council’s long-standing leader Sir Richard Leese.

Speaking at a Downtown Manchester In Business event held at Manchester’s Royal Exchange theatre earlier this week, Cllr Leese said that the current levels of cuts being proposed by the coalition government made Mrs Thatcher’s governments public spending reform efforts look benign.

“In my opinion the Government is cutting more than is necessary and they are doing it for ideological reasons,” he said.

He added that research recently undertaken by the council showed that 80% of its own expenditure was with service providers in the city region, so any attempt to pare that back was likely to have a knock-on effect on local businesses.

Manchester City Council has already begun talks with ther authorities in the city region with regards to sharing services in a bid to cut current levels by a quarter.

Frank McKenna, Chairman of Downtown in Business, said: “Sir Richard Leese became leader of Manchester City Council just one month before the IRA bomb in June 1996. Since then he has forged a unique relationship with chief executive, Sir Howard Bernstein that has consistently delivered in terms of development, regeneration and inward investment to the city.

“They are a force to be reckoned with in regional politics.”