Two of Greater Manchester’s newest council leaders have become the first to publicly back Ivan Lewis in the Labour mayoral race - arguing he understands the flaws in the region’s flagship devolution project.

Rishi Shori and Alex Ganotis, are both supporting the MP for Bury South in the race.

Neither leader was involved in setting up the region’s devolution deal of 2014 and say Greater Manchester deserves ‘more than the crumbs off George Osborne’s table’.

Mr Lewis, they believe, has been brave in highlighting the deal’s flaws and demanding it is not set up to fail.

In a joint statement they point to a myriad of problems with the devolution project, arguing the devolved health system is massively underfunded.

Devolution as a whole must not become ‘an elite project’, they say, and must benefit every area of Greater Manchester.

Councillor Rishi Shori
Councillor Rishi Shori

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Bury council leader Rishi Shori, whose patch coincides with Mr Lewis’s constituency, and Alex Ganotis, whose Labour group became the largest on Stockport council in the May election, are the first to make a public statement on who they will back.

However Wigan’s Lord Peter Smith was present at Andy Burnham’s campaign launch last week, while Tameside’s Kieran Quinn is understood to be involved in Tony Lloyd’s campaign.

Both Coun Shori and Coun Ganotis believe, however, that only Mr Lewis understands the weaknesses of the devolution project - and has the right priorities.

In a joint statement they wrote: “From the moment Ivan launched his campaign he has had the courage to speak openly about the uncomfortable truths that poverty and inequality - in many guises - are still rife within this conurbation and are holding it back.

“He has offered a clarity of vision rooted in Labour values. He has rightly urged us to make the fight against inequality our overriding mission.

“Ivan has correctly identified the flaws within the existing devolution agreements and called for the government to do more; to set us up to succeed, not to fail.”

Labour leader, Alex Ganotis

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They point out he has demanded the ‘transformation fund’ given to the region’s devolved health service - which stands at £450m and will be used to get it off the ground - must be doubled to £1bn, while also calling for greater controls over school improvement, not currently within the region’s powers.

They also believe he understands the need to revitalise town centres such as Bury and Stockport so that the benefits of devolution are spread equally across the conurbation.

As the Labour selection race gets underway, the pair are part of a growing trend in leading Labour figures across the region openly taking a critical eye to the region’s devolution deal, a project many grassroots Labour members - and even backbench councillors - regard with suspicion.

Former Oldham council leader Jim McMahon, one of the architects of the deal, raised eyebrows on winning the Oldham West and Royton by-election late last year by instantly criticising the ‘northern powerhouse’ strategy - later telling fellow MPs in his maiden speech that devolution ‘must be about more than a love affair with the big cities’.

Mr Lewis, meanwhile, has based much of his mayoral campaign on highlighting where the deal is lacking - particularly around health and education.