Greater Manchester's 'metro-mayor' welcomes NHS postcode lottery
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Mark Easton asks Tony Lloyd what exactly he's offering Manchester
The interim metro-mayor for the new Greater Manchester supercouncil says local control of £6bn in NHS and social care funds will not lead to a "breakaway health service". But Tony Lloyd would welcome a postcode lottery in the NHS where Greater Manchester provides better services for its residents than other parts of England.
His comments raise the prospect of a network of city-based power centres offering healthcare tailored for local needs. "We are not having the Whitehall mandarins, a long way away, making decisions about communities they don't understand," Mr Lloyd insists. "The North does need to raise its voice."
The Queen's Speech included legislation that will see control of transport, planning, housing, skills, policing and healthcare budgets move from Whitehall to the Greater Manchester Combined Authority in 2017. The move is part of Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne's plan to create what he calls a 'Northern Powerhouse'.
Perhaps the biggest surprise in the government's devolution package to Greater Manchester was the inclusion of health and social care budgets. Some experts are concerned that this might lead to politicians interfering with the priorities of the NHS, focusing resources on particular parts of the electorate.
"It would be foolish for a politician to say I know better than the health professionals," Mr Lloyd told me in his first major interview since being appointed. "But what I think is right and proper is that we design structures whereby the potential for disagreement can be talked through."
The devolved powers require Greater Manchester to have an elected mayor and last week Mr Lloyd, currently Police and Crime Commissioner for the area, was installed as the interim leader.
Critics have argued his appointment, by the 10 council leaders who make up the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, is not democratic. But Mr Lloyd says power is being devolved so rapidly it is vital to have proper stewardship ahead of elections in 2017.