Andy Burnham has revealed a £1bn growth plan for Manchester in a move which could be seen as a direct challenge to both Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Chancellor Rachel Reeves less than a week before the Budget.
The Mayor of Greater Manchester has touted the proposals as a way to “pioneer a new model of economic growth” which will back more than 30 projects across the city region.
The GM Good Growth Fund will initially involve £400m being put towards 3,000 new homes, help create 22,000 jobs and two million square feet of employment space.
With the Chancellor facing pressure to deliver a Budget in six days’ time which will surpass already low expectations after a series of U-turns, the timing of Andy Burnham’s £1bn growth plan could be seen as no coincidence.
Andy Burnham’s Commons seat offer
The announcement from Andy Burnham comes after Labour MP Clive Lewis offered to give up his seat to allow the Mayor of Greater Manchester to challenge Sir Keir Starmer for the party’s leadership.
There has been speculation in recent months, especially over the party conference season, that Burnham was considering coming back to Westminster politics.
Lewis told the BBC’s Politics Live that he was willing to step down from his Norwich South seat to allow Burnham to return to the House of Commons.
However, it was later reported that Lewis had retracted his offer.
‘Greater Manchester is ready to pioneer a new model for economic growth’
Andy Burnham said: “Greater Manchester is the UK’s economic success story of the past decade.
“Powered by devolution, our journey of growth has transformed our city region and is opening up opportunities that people could not have imagined 30 years ago.
“But we know that the real test of good growth is whether every person and every place feels the benefits.
“We’ve never believed in a busted ‘trickle-down’ theory that puts the pursuit of pure economic growth above the basic needs of our communities.
“And growth in Greater Manchester has never been an end in itself – it’s a means of improving lives by creating new opportunities and broadening access to them.
“We know we will only change the fortunes of our people and places by getting on with fixing the things national politics has neglected.
“That’s why we’ve used our trailblazing devolution deals to put public services back in service of the public, becoming the first region in 40 years to bring buses under local control.
“And it’s why Greater Manchester is ready to pioneer a new model for economic growth – unlocking investment to build new homes, create good jobs, deliver infrastructure, and providing the everyday support that will enable everyone to live a good life.
“Good growth is the defining challenge of our age – and today we are setting out a serious, practical plan to achieve it.”
Booming Manchester outshines ‘stagnant’ London
City AM reported earlier this month that Greater Manchester’s booming economy is outstripping the rest of the country and throwing into sharp relief the “stagnant” state London has found itself in since the 2008 financial crisis.
Analysis from Oxford Economics laid bare the issues facing the capital and compared its progress – or lack thereof – to that of its Northern rival, which has been described as the “trailblazer for local devolution”.
The report, written by cities and regions economist Alexander Harvey, argued that “nowhere has the productivity slowdown been more apparent than in London” since the 2008 global financial crisis.
However, the report does point out that since 2008, productivity growth in the mayoral combined authorities (MCAs) as an aggregate has broadly matched the UK average.
While the likes of West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, and Greater Manchester, have all recorded stronger-than-average growth – with the latter being the “star performer”.
Greater Manchester, which was the first MCA to be created, has been hailed as the “trailblazer for local devolution”, and its performance grown significantly faster than the UK average.
Harvey said: “A major part of this success has been an accelerating industrial transition within Greater Manchester.
“The MCA now enjoys a more favourable industrial composition than the national average, as evidenced by the increasing share of workers in high-productivity sectors.
“A prime example of this has been the strong growth in Knowledge Intensive Business Services (KIBS) that Greater Manchester has experienced since 2008.
“Employment in Greater Manchester’s KIBS sector has expanded faster than the national average, London, and all other MCAs, with close to half of these jobs concentrated in the city centre.
“Meanwhile, Greater Manchester also leads the way on overall GVA growth since the GFC; this is perhaps unsurprising given its strong productivity performance, though it is worth nothing that that it has paired this productivity growth with strong employment growth.”
What does the plan involve?
According to the proposals, the GM Good Growth Fund will “revitalise our town centres” and “Help us turn the tide on the housing crisis by building well-connected new homes”.
It will also “grow our central core and innovation district”, backing projects like Mayfield, Sister, and the redevelopment of the former Kendals department store.
Andy Burnham said the GM Good Growth Fund would “turbocharge regeneration” and has the potential to create around 12,000 jobs in construction alone, with another 10,134 jobs at the new employment sites the integrated pipeline builds.
The city region’s leaders are expected to approve this first wave of funding allocations at next Friday’s meeting of Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA).
The second wave of project funding will be announced in March.