Labour Leader of Wigan council blasted by own party over bid to become Mayor of Manchester

See the full story here; http://www.wigantoday.net/news/local/labour-fury-over-county-boris-plan-1-6948878

Lord Smith of Leigh, leader of Labour run Wigan council has been openly criticised by his own local Labour party in his bid to become the first mayor of Greater Manchester.

Apparently Lord Smith failed to notify anyone, including his own Labour Councillors of his agreement with Tory chancellor George Osborne over a Mayor for Greater Manchester.

Criticised as “shocking and anti-democratic” the Labour party even admitted that the borough had massively rejected a Boris-style elected Mayor just two years ago. 

Makerfield CLP chairman Sir Ian McCartney said ‘The first most people at the CLP, members and Councillors, knew about this was seeing Peter Smith sharing a platform with the Tory Chancellor on the television news that evening as they made the announcement’, ‘there is something distinctly anti-democratic about the way this is being handled that really does ring the alarm bells’