“We’re all winners” chirruped the Manchester Evening News (MEN) in response to George Osborne’s autumn statement last month. Certainly there were some high profile announcements, like £78m for a new theatre. Over the last year, the city has been at the centre of some significant deals — the £1bn devolution package, HS2 and the Northern Hub. Or for that matter hundreds of homes to be financed by private equity from an autocratic regime criticised by Human Rights Watch. But when you look beyond the hype, and when the newspaper headlines have become bedding for people under the Mancunian Way, it’s clear the city is in crisis.

The big winners of May’s local elections were Labour, which won every ward up for grabs, giving them 95 out of 96 seats (the sole independent is a Labour defector). Since then, their one party rule has shown a wide range of incompetencies. We’ve had a grumpily confrontational litter campaign and new bins and the city is as filthy as ever. Sharps have gone uncleared for weeks despite pledges. Green space has been taken and is under threat. Heritage assets have been left at risk. Previously promised multimillion pound redevelopments bringing thousands of jobs have failed to materialise. The Central Library redevelopment is mired in controversy with a public inquiry. Newly built flats right next to fibre cable suffer internet download speeds between the averages for Burkina Faso and Benin.

The celebratory press calls seem hopelessly remote from everyday concerns. The reality for us is arguments over the colour of drug syringes to make sure our kids don’t pick them up, not glories of northern powerhouses.

The crisis goes deep, with years of structural problems. Manchester has the lowest female life expectancy at 80, more than six years behind the front runners. Ofsted judged the city’s child protection to be inadequate, with hundreds of cases lacking assessment potentially putting children at risk. Significantly, parts of the city which have had huge high profile projects still suffer from endemic social problems.

Even now, in Bradford ward where Manchester City’s Etihad stadium stands, child poverty is at 49%. Ancoats and Clayton ward, which houses the Co-op HQ, has child poverty at 52%. In Moss Side, which has seen significant regeneration, the statistic rises to a shocking 59%. Headline driven regeneration may be good for PR, but for so many in this city the MEN headline will stick in the throat.

It’s true that local government has born the brunt of government cuts, with places like Manchester particularly losing out. The poorest areas of England have endured council cuts worth 16 times as much as the richest. The new 2015-2017 budget is a desperate affair, with 600 staff facing redundancy.

Manchester’s long serving council leader, Sir Richard Leese, is often feted for his ability to operate across party lines. But surely he could use his political connections to cut a better deal. Central cuts have become an excuse not to act on anything, to have positive vision or to address residents’ concerns. Money could be saved by replacing the new Labour intake with a telephone message saying “it’s Cameron’s fault”, it would be about as useful. There are plenty of areas, for example missing CO2 emissions reduction targets, where the council is directly to blame. Yet there is a culture of shirking responsibility. Manchester may be ready for devolved responsibility, but Manchester Labour is not.

Worst of all, the so-called devolution deal ties Manchester and the city region to Osborne’s fiscal consolidation. In other words, cuts. The vaunted billion is not new money so it won’t solve any of our fundamental problems. Powers can be snatched back, the whole thing is to be foisted on us. Lucy Powell, MP for Manchester Central, is wrong to say it doesn’t introduce a new level of government: it makes the Greater Manchester Combined Authority a new undemocratic ruling tier. Sir Richard likes to play the knight in shining armour, but if this Boris-lite compromise is the best he can deliver for the city, we will continue to lose out.

We must be everything London is not, liveable and affordable, with people getting their fair share. Not driven by high profile election bribes while the deeper problems go unaddressed. Manchester will only win the victories that really matter when it has leaders with the vision and courage to fight the right battles. Until then all our wins will be at the mercy of George Osborne.

Loz Kaye is Pirate Party PPC for Manchester Central