Reform UK has announced Sian Astley as our candidate for the Greater Manchester mayoral election, with a promise to shine a light on decades of disastrous Labour rule across the region.
In her launch video, Astley said she was standing because Greater Manchester “deserves better” after five decades of Labour dominance. She said that Labour’s long grip on Greater Manchester had left too many questions unanswered and too many decisions hidden from public view.
Astley, a Manchester University graduate who lives in Fallowfield, currently runs a design and property business, and leads Reform UK’s Manchester City Council group. She was elected as Reform UK councillor for Baguley, Wythenshawe in the May elections, a ward that had been held by Labour for more than 50 years before her victory.
“Labour have been in charge here for 50 years”, she said, “and there are things under the carpet, things behind the curtain. People say there’s a spotlight on Reform, but the way I feel is that we are the spotlight. Reform is the disinfectant.”
As a former Labour voter herself, Astley said she had become increasingly concerned by what she described as “a lack of transparency” and “contempt for the voter”.
“The vice-like grip that Labour have had over Manchester has been evident for decades”, she said.
Astley wants to open up Greater Manchester’s institutions to proper scrutiny. She pledged to open the files on the grooming-gangs scandal. She has promised to investigate the Greater Manchester Combined Authority's use of public funds to lend money to property developers building high-end apartment blocks in the city centre. She would examine the millions spent preparing for ULEZ in Manchester, only for it to be scrapped. She would also scrutinise social-housing allocations and council-backed deals. The people of Greater Manchester deserve to know where exactly their hard-earned money is being spent.
“We have to make sure that promises are stuck to and delivered”, Astley said. “The question, I think, for voters in this election is: when they’ve let us down so much in the past, can we trust them to deliver? I don’t think so, which is why I’m standing.”
“I'm standing because Greater Manchester deserves better. Britain is broken and Britain needs Reform.”
In her launch video, Astley said she was standing because Greater Manchester “deserves better” after five decades of Labour dominance. She said that Labour’s long grip on Greater Manchester had left too many questions unanswered and too many decisions hidden from public view.
Astley, a Manchester University graduate who lives in Fallowfield, currently runs a design and property business, and leads Reform UK’s Manchester City Council group. She was elected as Reform UK councillor for Baguley, Wythenshawe in the May elections, a ward that had been held by Labour for more than 50 years before her victory.
“Labour have been in charge here for 50 years”, she said, “and there are things under the carpet, things behind the curtain. People say there’s a spotlight on Reform, but the way I feel is that we are the spotlight. Reform is the disinfectant.”
As a former Labour voter herself, Astley said she had become increasingly concerned by what she described as “a lack of transparency” and “contempt for the voter”.
“The vice-like grip that Labour have had over Manchester has been evident for decades”, she said.
Astley wants to open up Greater Manchester’s institutions to proper scrutiny. She pledged to open the files on the grooming-gangs scandal. She has promised to investigate the Greater Manchester Combined Authority's use of public funds to lend money to property developers building high-end apartment blocks in the city centre. She would examine the millions spent preparing for ULEZ in Manchester, only for it to be scrapped. She would also scrutinise social-housing allocations and council-backed deals. The people of Greater Manchester deserve to know where exactly their hard-earned money is being spent.
“We have to make sure that promises are stuck to and delivered”, Astley said. “The question, I think, for voters in this election is: when they’ve let us down so much in the past, can we trust them to deliver? I don’t think so, which is why I’m standing.”
“I'm standing because Greater Manchester deserves better. Britain is broken and Britain needs Reform.”
