George Osborne interview: smaller government is not enough

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[/audioplayer]Puccini’s doesn’t seem like George Osborne’s sort of restaurant. It is a pizza-and-pasta place in the safely Labour constituency of Salford and Eccles, Greater Manchester, most notable for the fact that Sir Alex Ferguson once took his whole squad there. (‘Penne alla Giggs’ is still on offer to prove it.) In recent years, however, the Chancellor has become something of a regular — he has even taken the Prime Minister along — and is made welcome to the point that when we met there last Thursday diners queued to be photographed with him. The Chancellor used to look awkward in such situations. But this time he looked relaxed, chatting away with whoever passed. It is all part of a carefully cultivated relationship. Greater Manchester is to blaze a trail for his idea of better, stronger local government, with more powers in exchange for more accountability in the form of a directly elected mayor.