BRIAN BRADLEY

Stockport president at the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce

THE Manchester Mayoral Election is looming and there has been a lot of Chamber activity around this important event.

Last week I attended a Meet The Mayor event at Elliot House. It was the third and final in a series of events with Tony Lloyd, the current ‘interim’ Mayor and Police and Crime Commissioner.

He was appointed in May 2015, but this May there will be a vote and Greater Manchester will get its first-ever elected mayor.

The event looked at Tony’s legacy, but more importantly what the role of the new Mayor will be after he/she is chosen.

The Chamber has set out five key issues which it hopes the new Mayor will tackle, those are; Skills, Infrastructure, Planning, Trade and Business Support.

There are further details on these five key issues in the latest 53 Degrees magazine and you are asked to choose which of the five is the most important for you and would be your top priority when it comes to the vote.

The Chamber’s campaign has been running for a while now but there will be a lot more action in coming months so it’s worth checking out the website (gmchamber. co.uk) to find out more before election day.

Their key purpose will be to lead successfully the future development and growth of Greater Manchester by raising economic performance across all locations to deliver sustainable growth, increase employment opportunities, improve skills levels across the workforce, reduce social and economic inequalities and develop the Greater Manchester brand nationally and internationally.

Make sure you get involved!