Tonight (Thursday 22) and tomorrow the BBC Radio 4 PM programme will carry items by reporter Andrew Bomford about how greater Manchester has fared over the past year in the face of a sluggish economy and large public spending cuts. It’s based on a report we wrote for them on the impact of the cuts (which you can get here).

Headlines:

• the cuts in the greater Manchester City-Region (MCR) amount to almost £1bn a year for the next four years at least, reducing public spending by £4bn by 2014-15
• MCR was already hit hard by the first, private sector, recession between 2008-2010, losing £1.5bn from the local economy
• although there are some small signs of private sector resilience, overall private sector growth will be no where near big enough to compensate for the cuts in the medium term
• MCR is more dependent on public sector activity, not so much in providing public sector jobs (although a lot of those will go) but in benefits and other support, all of which will be cut drastically

The radio reports will include interviews with myself, the leaders of Trafford and Manchester City councils, as well as local business people and residents.