Gill_Bee 🇬🇧 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

Adult human female. You don’t scare me, I was taught by nuns.

I have an opinion and it’s mine to own. If you don’t agree with me then try and change my mind.

[Gill_Bee 🇬🇧 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 @gilli_bee]

@VincentVegaLa @Nigel_Farage I think you’ll find most of us wish we weren’t even having this conversation.

[Gill_Bee 🇬🇧 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 @gilli_bee]

@Piddies @RupertLowe10 Stop with the stupid whataboutery.

[Gill_Bee 🇬🇧 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 @gilli_bee]

@MENSAIDINC @CamillaTominey I appreciate it feels scary though. Hell, I’m a 70’s child and it all seems overwhelming by comparison now.

[Gill_Bee 🇬🇧 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 @gilli_bee]

@MENSAIDINC @CamillaTominey I still think you need to allow them to venture out and you can do stuff with him. I’ve raised 3 sons and the youngest 2, aged 24 and 22, are currently on different continents. That likely wouldn’t have happened if I’d let them stay in their room as kids. It’s a balance.

[Gill_Bee 🇬🇧 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 @gilli_bee]

@mohdwaseem5010 Those poor babies. Seriously though, who thought it was a good idea to keep them that close to that rickety shelter? 😢

[Jim Chimirie 🇬🇧 @JChimirie66677]

Mark, thank you. This is extraordinary. An official letter on Greater Manchester Combined Authority headed paper, signed by Andy Burnham as Mayor, addressed to Mayor Zhang of Tianjin, China. It's classified as Internal Personal and Confidential.

The letter praises the speed at which the Chinese National Government mobilised to contain the virus. The timing matters enormously. This letter was written in early 2020, the period when the Chinese government was actively suppressing information about Covid, silencing the doctors who raised the alarm and withholding data from the World Health Organisation. Burnham was commending their response at the precise moment the cover-up was underway.

The Tianjin connection also provides the institutional framework that makes the housing story considerably more significant. Manchester and Tianjin have a formal twinning relationship. That relationship gave Burnham a direct line to Chinese municipal authorities at exactly the time his GMCA was lending hundreds of millions in public money to a developer whose luxury towers were being marketed to Chinese investors in Hong Kong.

The letter is classified as Internal Personal and Confidential. A formal communication from a mayor to a Chinese counterpart on official headed paper, classified as personal. That raises an obvious question about what other correspondence exists in that relationship that has never entered the public domain.

My piece asked what the Renaker story tells us about Labour's relationship with China. This letter is part of the answer.

[Jim Chimirie 🇬🇧 @JChimirie66677]

Burnham Promised Affordable Homes. He Built Luxury Towers For Chinese Investors

Before Andy Burnham stood for Mayor of Greater Manchester in 2017 he was explicit about what he would do with the region's housing investment fund. He criticised public loans for city centre and luxury schemes. He promised to renegotiate the fund so it would fully focus on the long term goal of an affordable home for all. Here is what he actually did.

Burnham's Greater Manchester Combined Authority lent £578 million in public money to a single developer, Daren Whitaker of Renaker. In March 2024 Burnham chaired a meeting that approved £120 million in loans to Renaker companies in the space of one minute. Out of 11,000 homes built with that public money, 503 are classed as affordable. Less than five percent. Since 2020 Whitaker's personal fortune has grown from £140 million to an estimated £698 million, making him one of the wealthiest individuals in the North West. He briefly registered his residency in Monaco before switching it back to Britain.

A tribunal found that GMCA failed to obtain a statement of assets and liabilities from Whitaker before lending him the money, exposing taxpayers to a risk the tribunal described as potentially wiping out the public funds. Whitaker also received a £40 million dividend payout despite restrictions in the original loan agreement. The GMCA would not say whether it knew about or approved those payments. The terms of the loans remain secret. A Court of Appeal hearing on £140 million of those loans is scheduled for June 9. Nine days before the Makerfield by-election.

The China dimension is where the story connects to something considerably larger. The taxpayer backed developments were actively marketed to Chinese buy to let investors through Hong Kong estate agents. A marketing event was held in Hong Kong just weeks before the GMCA approved a £69 million loan for the Contour development. Hundreds of flats in taxpayer backed skyscrapers have been sold to Asian investors according to Telegraph analysis of Companies House filings.

Angela Rayner, then Deputy Prime Minister, was simultaneously telling the Telegraph that it was a real frustration that international investors could buy up houses before local people get a look in. Her government's mayor in Manchester was lending public money to a developer marketing those same homes to Chinese buy to let investors in Hong Kong. Labour was pledging a stamp duty surcharge on overseas landlords while its most prominent northern mayor was facilitating exactly the investment it claimed to oppose.

For Makerfield voters the question is direct. The constituency sits within a region where 18,000 people have no permanent address and one in 61 Manchester residents is homeless. The man asking them to send him to Westminster promised in 2017 to focus public money on affordable homes for all. He then lent £578 million to a developer who built luxury towers now owned by Chinese landlords, extracted dividend payments despite loan restrictions, and left taxpayers exposed without conducting adequate financial checks.

For Britain as a whole the question is broader. The pattern of accommodating Chinese financial interests runs from the super embassy in London to the spy trial collapse to Mandelson's undisclosed relationship with China's finance minister. The Renaker story adds a further dimension. Public money, lent without adequate due diligence, flowing into luxury developments marketed directly to Chinese investors, by the mayor now seeking to become Prime Minister.

The Court of Appeal will hear the case on June 9. The voters of Makerfield deliver their verdict on June 18. Both deserve an honest answer.

"Burnham's Greater Manchester Combined Authority lent £578 million in public money to a single developer, Daren Whitaker of Renaker."

[Gill_Bee 🇬🇧 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 @gilli_bee]

@GBNEWS With the cherry on top being he’s apparently still receiving his benefits. The country is a very poorly written joke.

[Gill_Bee 🇬🇧 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 @gilli_bee]

@accountingetc I’m waiting on the jet pack.

[Gill_Bee 🇬🇧 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 @gilli_bee]

@arjan35000 RIP little Olli.

[Gill_Bee 🇬🇧 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 @gilli_bee]

@MattersInformed @CowsEatGrassBlg I’ve been chewing over the Down Syndrome debate that’s been prevalent for the last few days. The topic of testing for autism came up. I doubt there would ever be a test because perhaps it wouldn’t be discoverable in utero. Perhaps it doesn’t exist in utero. Just a thought.

[Gill_Bee 🇬🇧 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 @gilli_bee]

@cliverwhite1 @TiceRichard Thats a fair point. I suppose I’m a bit triggered by the whole sorry saga.

[Gill_Bee 🇬🇧 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 @gilli_bee]

@cliverwhite1 @TiceRichard It doesn’t matter to you either way I guess because it wasn’t your family that has been impacted.

[Gill_Bee 🇬🇧 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 @gilli_bee]

@cliverwhite1 @TiceRichard I thought it was India 🤔

[Gill_Bee 🇬🇧 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 @gilli_bee]

@NannaOfDragons I really like this but I also think M & S Royal Jelly hand cream is very similar, particularly the scent. 🤷‍♂️

[Gill_Bee 🇬🇧 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 @gilli_bee]

@SBakerMD My mother has dementia. She’s been staying with me until last week and she had an alarmingly sweet tooth. She’s kept asking for 2 sugars in tea and only ever wanted desserts if we ate out. Statins too.

[Gill_Bee 🇬🇧 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 @gilli_bee]

@AndrewHWestern I think you’re just trolling now.

[Gill_Bee 🇬🇧 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 @gilli_bee]

@GreggAWallace Looks lovely.

[Gill_Bee 🇬🇧 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 @gilli_bee]

@JezziiB Girls and women are natural caregivers. Nobody taught me the idea, it just is. I always wanted children and I’m fortunate to have them. You wouldn’t exist without it. Social engineering, my arse.