The latest estimates are that 620,000 people in Greater Manchester are living in poverty, and struggle to put food on the table. Of those, around 200,000 are children experiencing food poverty. £30 billion per year has been cut from welfare budgets since 2010. By 2020, Local councils will have lost 60% of central government funding […]
Tenant rights campaigners victorious over government plans to scrap ‘no-fault evictions’
A coalition of housing activists are celebrating a campaign victory as the government announced its plans yesterday to abolish “no-fault evictions” under Section 21 of the 1988 Housing Act and introduce open-ended tenancies for private renters in England. Currently, Section 21 allows landlords to evict tenants without giving a reason, after a fixed term tenancy […]
HSBC take flak for funding massive overseas coal projects, undermining Paris Agreement on CO2
Highstreet bank HSBC’s activities funding new CO2 emitting fossil fuel projects are under attack by campaigners across Greater Manchester, who are demanding the bank make a “Big Shift” to funding renewable energy Christian Aid’s on-going climate campaign (#BigShift) is now focusing on HSBC because of their continued funding of massive new coal projects in Bangladesh, […]
Can the Homes Act fix slum conditions in the private rented sector?
You move into the only place you could afford in your area. The wallpaper is hanging and bubbling off and there are large areas of mould mottling the walls, like the house has caught some kind of disease. The doors and windows are draughty and there are mouse droppings all over the kitchen. Welcome to […]
Is Burnham’s A Bed Every Night scheme enough?
On the first day in his role as mayor of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, Andy Burnham pledged 15% of his £110,00 salary (£16,500) to his newly created Mayor’s homelessness fund. He had soared to victory in the election with 63% of the vote on the back of a pledge to end rough sleeping in Greater […]
The Northern Gateway may be barred to many
Manchester City Council promises that 3,000 of the homes being developed in the enormous Northern Gateway development will be affordable housing. But close to 86,000 households in Greater Manchester are on the social housing waiting list, and homelessness is visibly increasing. Affordable housing is unaffordable to many in Manchester. So who is this development actually […]
Council in partnership with ‘most brutal police state in the Middle East’ says Amnesty International
Manchester City Council’s business partnership with the Royal Family of Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates, came under heavy criticism from activists and academics at a packed public meeting in the Central Hall on Oldham Street last Saturday. Describing the UAE as “the most brutal police state in the Middle East”, one speaker from […]
Bus franchising: a route to cleaner air for Greater Manchester
“Levels of air pollution in Greater Manchester(GM) are lethal and illegal”, states a new analysis by King’s College London, estimating that 1.6 million life years will be lost in GM in the next century due to poisonous air. The equivalent is reducing the life expectancy of all current residents by six months. A recent World […]
Manchester is hit hard by the overwhelming UK debt crisis
Britain is in the grip of a personal debt crisis, with an increasing numbers of families being caught in spiraling debt traps. Unsecured, non-mortgage, household debt is now at £239 billion higher than it was before the financial crash in 2008. When it comes to those struggling with debt, Manchester is hit particularly hard with […]
Manchester clubs together in solidarity with Leeds charity
Across the Pennines, on the outskirts of the city centre of Leeds, a special party has been running regularly for the majority of the last decade. Known as Cosmic Slop, the events have achieved critical acclaim in their own right as a politically charged, progressive party – purposely without a prescribed music policy their eclectic […]