The Greater Manchester Combined Authority has just published a new contract seeking consultants on housing. It says:
“With a new Mayoral term and a new national government in 2024, there is a renewed focus on fixing the housing crisis. To do so requires a seismic national and local effort, in close collaboration with communities and with a long term strategy to establish the fundamentals needed to deliver on this mission. For our part, Greater Manchester is seeking to be a city region which puts housing first in public service and policy.”
In order to “establish the fundamentals” Burnham’s authority is teaming up with the Greater Manchester Race Equality Panel to “seek fresh insight to inform a strategic approach to correcting racial inequalities in the social housing and homelessness sectors; and specifically, intersections which are a factor in driving disproportionate homelessness among people from black and minoritised communities.” Word salad worth £75,000…
For that you could:
Central and local government launch hundreds of these kinds of pointless consulting operations every year. The taxpayer may have a view on which should be prioritised. UK DOGE recommends costs are cut here…
Andy Haldane, Burnham’s recent adviser on the economy who has not taken up a No10 job, told Andrew Marr on LBC:
“The market now suspects that this is a traditional tax-and-spend socialist government with better TikTok videos…
imposing windfall taxes on oil & gas or on banks or upping capital gains tax would […] repeat the mistake that Rachel made […] The Achilles heel, the fiscal Achilles heel of this government thus far has been its unwillingness and/or inability to cut public spending.”