As the fastest-growing city-region economy in the UK, Greater Manchester has proven that it is possible to use public funds effectively while reducing crisis spending. Under the leadership of Mayor Andy Burnham, the area has embraced a long-term approach to rebuilding an economy devastated by the deindustrialisation of the Thatcher era.
Burnham argues that the four horsemen of Britain’s apocalypse are deindustrialisation, privatisation, austerity, and Brexit. These structural weaknesses in the economy were exacerbated by the higher growth experienced within the EU, and the combined effects of austerity and Brexit in the 2010s laid them bare. As a result, cities and towns across the country have been hollowed out, and the country has been trapped in a low-growth doom loop.
However, Greater Manchester has used devolution to build a new, more collaborative political culture that is the polar opposite of the Westminster and Whitehall world. The region has been growing at double the rate of the UK average and has set out plans to reindustrialise its city region in the next period through the development of five global clusters. By supporting more of its residents to access opportunity in this fast-growing economy, Greater Manchester is showing that it is possible to make more effective use of public funds, reducing crisis spending in the long term.
Burnham argues that replicating this ‘Manchesterism’ thinking at a national level could mean putting electoral reform centre stage as the means to create a more collaborative politics and consensus on the public investment needed to free the country from the pernicious pincer movement of the simultaneous cost-of-living and housing crises. This, in turn, will restore greater control over public spending and remove the uncertainty about the country’s direction, thereby putting the UK in a better position in relation to the markets.
The lessons of Greater Manchester’s success offer inspiration for the rest of the country. By embracing a long-term, collaborative approach to rebuilding the economy, the region has demonstrated that it is possible to break free from the legacy of Thatcherism and create a more prosperous and equitable future.
