The Andrew Gwynne affair seems to have something to do with pensions, as Michael Crick reports. Tameside runs the Greater Manchester local government scheme, the largest in the UK. The gov want it to invest for growth but local councillors differ. One for @henryhtapper I think. https://t.co/pNEe5QWmfH
— Dennis Leech (@Dennis_Leech) February 10, 2025
Thanks to stalwart Dennis Leech, a pension prof. who can see the funny side of pension politics when they appear on our almost forgotten social media – twitter!
But Chancellor Rachel Reeves recently revealed she wants GMPF & other 85 local council pension funds to consolidate their funds, save admin costs, and invest in new major projects for the public good.
— Michael Crick (@MichaelLCrick) February 9, 2025
There is considerable concern in LGPS at the thought of a lot of jobs going, conferences shrinking and sales opportunities for fund managers disappearing overnight/
Andrew Gwynne & his allies in Tameside happily back Reeves’s pension consolidation plans. But some Tameside councillors say Reeves plans may involve GMPF funds being put into much riskier investments which could generate lower returns.
— Michael Crick (@MichaelLCrick) February 9, 2025
The anti-Reeves dissidents argue the sole responsibility of GMPF (run by Tameside Council) is to council staff & former staff in the GMPF scheme, & to local council taxpayers. If GMPF makes big surplus, they say, that should just mean greater benefits for staff in GMPF
— Michael Crick (@MichaelLCrick) February 9, 2025
Now Labour NEC have taken control of Tameside council leadership, & also direct control of council candidate selection ahead of 2026 Tameside elections. The reselection process, due to start in April, is likely to see opponents of Reeves’ pension plans ousted as candidates.
— Michael Crick (@MichaelLCrick) February 9, 2025
I am sorry but this kind of pension nimby-ism which looks after local issues by taking no risks , excludes the local council and the greater Manchester authority from a national plan to get us working as a country.
Over the past few days I have shown how Kensington is managing its pension for the good of local people, most importantly the victims of Grenfell Tower (who have not been well treated by the Borough so far IMO). I have read with dismay the angry people of Birmingham wanting to know what its pension scheme is up to when it comes to helping out its and other stricken councils.
Now I read that Greater Manchester Pension Fund (GMPF) is keen to resist being rolled into a bigger plan that might eventually have LGPS investing as one entity (worth north of £400bn rather than GMPS’s £30bn). It is delighted to tar Tameside which is looking to follow the big plan of Rachel Reeve and is using the personal embarrassment we heap on Andrew Gwynne as an example of how bad things will get.
This coming from a man who was described by his boss at Channel 4 as a professional trouble maker
“Crick adheres instead to the honourable belief that the job of the reporter is to create as much trouble as possible. He lives by his creed by bringing in scoop after scoop.”
Crick
Leave this man and his tawdry politics alone Dennis. He may be very clever but he looks to me to have a shrivelled vision. We are looking to move away from nimbyism in pensions in general and I’d include in that “localism” in the LGPS.