Two years ago, under pressure from activists, the Executive Member for the Environment set a target that by the end of 2014, 60 of the 96 councillors of Manchester City Council (all Labour party, btw) would have completed their ‘carbon literacy’ training.  That involves half a day of face-to-face about the causes of climate change and what can be done locally, and also an on-line component.

That was a fairly unambitious goal, since Manchester City Council is supposed to be leading the way on climate change.   Still, 60 out of 96 would have been a good start, and the other 36 – or near enough – would have been done in 2015….

[Ironic laughter.]

The number is 25, and hasn’t really budged in the last 15 months.  And that number will go DOWN, as several councillors who had the intelligence and integrity to do the training step down at the May 2016 elections.

This is Manchester. We do things very very badly here.