This is the official release from the Council Press Office with quotes from many of the usual suspects and reminding us that the conference sector is worth more than £570m to Manchester's economy each year and that this year's conference will generate £27.4m for the city's economy.
Here is an alternative from Manchester Mule which reminds us that although Marketing Manchester suggests that it brings in £27.4m to the city
This ignores not only the enormous, £110 million cuts forced on the city by Westminster, but also the ongoing structural inequality which means that Manchester still has the highest levels of child poverty in the UK, and some of the lowest life expectancies. Tweed-suited Tories spending a bit of cash will not only do little to alleviate these problems, but when conspiring together in conference centres they are simply plotting how to make them worse.
Whose right? Well probably neither of them.
Whilst Mule is correct in highlighting the ridiculous propaganda that comes out of the council over the revenue generating ability of the conference to turn this into some sort of radical crusade on events that happened 200 years ago is a rather tired argument.
Manchester,whilst a historical hotbed of radicalism has always been a city in which freedom to exercise opinion has been allowed.
So why should the Tories not be given a platform just in the same way that the TUC are given a platform to mrch on Sunday?
As for the worst child poverty figures in the country and a dose of other deprivation statistics,remember the left has been in power in Manchester for some time and nationally for 13 years.
The downward slide in living standards in some areas of Manchester can be held firmly at the door of a policy of deindustrialisation being replaced by consumerism,a practice that both sides of the poltical spectrum have been engaged in since the 1950′s and a policy ruthlessly followed by the last Labour government
1 comment:
Mule are entitled to their opinion of the Conservative Party (needless to say I disagree vehemently) but the Conference would go ahead elsewhere if not in Manchester.
They appear to be saying that the City Council should turn down the Conference on ideological grounds, and turn down the economic boost on principle. How foolish and, well, stubborn - very apt, indeed.
Post a Comment