George Gallaway has blasted Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham for “abandoning” towns in the north of England.
The firebrand left-wing MP slammed the Labour politician for failing to help towns such as Rochdale.
In his first speech since returning to Parliament, Mr Galloway accused the Conservatives and Labour of being “two cheeks of the same backside”.
He said: “A subdivision of Oldham, this town which was once one of the most prosperous in England, is now one of the poorest, abandoned not just by the Government, but abandoned by the Mayor of Greater Manchester. He is the Mayor of Greater Manchester, not just the Mayor of Manchester.
“What about the towns around Manchester, who get the wrong end of the stick? Imagine a town where you can’t be born?
“Outside in the country, most people feel wish for a plague on both of their houses. Two cheeks of the same backside is the most popular phrase I have ever coined because it so aptly described not just the general political situation, but also the debate on this very budget itself.
“We are a town that has been abandoned by the state. We are a town that is increasingly being abandoned by the Mayor of Greater Manchester.”
Mr Galloway’s victory at last month’s by-election – which he won after a hardline pro-Palestine campaign – was the seventh time he has been elected to Parliament.
He has also now represented three different parties in the Commons, having previously been a Labour and Respect Party MP.
The leader of the Workers Party of Britain opened his speech by saying: “As I was saying Madame Deputy Speaker, even in Parliament you can’t be a maiden twice.”
Mr Galloway paid tribute to his predecessor, Rochdale’s former Labour MP Sir Tony Lloyd, who he described as a “significant figure that should never be forgotten in this House and certainly will not be forgotten in the Greater Manchester arena”, but claimed the Labour Party had a “very poor odour” in the town.
He also hit out at the Budget, telling the Commons: “Frankly all the spices in Rochdale could not give flavour to what can only be described as a nothing burger of a Budget. An absolute nothing burger and the response from the so-called Opposition in this House: equally vacuous.
“The shadow minister (Darren Jones) bridled when the SNP accused them of accepting the Tories’ spending limits, but he had no right to bridle because everything that is being said by the Leader of the Opposition, by the shadow chancellor of the exchequer, accepts the economic orthodoxies of the Conservative Government.”
Mr Galloway claimed of the Tories and Labour that “most people feel a wish for a plague on both of their houses”.
