It has not been all bad news for minister Hazel Blears in recent weeks. At least the communities secretary and Salford MP will be in the House after the next election. She has just emerged victorious from an embarrassing scrap with her Eccles neighbour, Ian Stewart, for the one remaining constituency in the city of Salford. However Ms Blears is not flavour of the month with some of her Labour colleagues in Cheshire, according to a private letter which has come into my possession. Peter Nurse has been on Cheshire CC for almost 30 years. A former chairman of the education committee, he is now deputy leader of the Labour group in opposition. His letter to Ms Blears concerns her decision to abolish the county council and replace it with two unitaries. It reveals the raw politics behind the continuing anger felt by opponents of the move. Cllr Nurse's missive is replete with phrases including ‘a disastrous decision', and ‘a hole-in-the-wall process'. But then we come to the damage that is forecast for the Labour party. Cllr Nurse believes East Cheshire will be permanently Tory, and usually, West Cheshire too. And the parliamentary seat of Chester may slip from Labour's grasp, he forecasts. Despite this, preparations for the new authorities are gathering pace, with Macclesfield and Vale Royal taking the lead. This is just as well because full elections for the new unitaries are due in just 11 weeks. What voters will make of it all remains to be seen. No doubt they will be looking forward to Ms Blears coming to Crewe and Congleton, Northwich and Chester, to convince them to vote Labour. She may be short of a few helpers. PS: It is now seven months since the Government promised regional select committees, where are they?
