Life in a Mayoral

OK, so a while back I might have said that I would definitely absolutely not post any more political literature on to this site, but we all know pledges are made to be broken. How could I resist the lure of the first ever Greater Manchester Mayoral Election? Combined Authorities! Supplementary Vote! Brexit Culture Wars! It's got it all.

Welcome back first of all to the fiercely independent South Manchester News, which chooses to splash on Corbyn's inept opposition to the Brexit process:



Sadly the News was unable to find sufficient space to mention that our local Labour MP voted against triggering Article 50, but to be fair if I was the editor I'd play up the Corbyn angle for all it was worth as well.

Along with the SMN came the first piece of mayoral campaign literature we've received, for the Lib Dem candidate Jane Brophy. She is a Trafford councillor whose name is already familiar to me as the runner up in the safe Tory seat of Altrincham & Sale West in 2010 back when I lived there (a seat so safe there was virtually no indication that a general election was even happening).


Again there's a strong emphasis on the Lib Dems' pro-EU stance, and good luck to them. I must admit it's very tempting to vote on that issue alone.

Inside there's a whole lot more on Brexit, all music to my liberal-metropolitan-elite ears:


I wonder whether different literature is being sent to the Leave-leaning areas of GM? Perhaps not too different, as the obvious strategy for the Lib Dems is to go all out for the Remain vote no matter where that may be living.

I'm intrigued also by the mention of supposedly divisive immigration comments made by Andy Burnham, but as there was again sadly no space to quote the actual comments, I'm going to go out on a limb and assume they're not quite as "disgraceful" as they're made out to be.

Finally I'm pleased to see half a page devoted to the thoroughly nerdy topic of the voting system:


If you're not familiar with the Supplementary Vote, it's essentially AV for people who can't count to three. No surprise that the Lib Dems are highlighting the process, as SV allows you to throw away cast your vote for your genuine first preference safe in the knowledge that Burnham will get in anyway you have a backup to give to a frontrunner.


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