AIBU to wonder how a government can be based in Manchester?

[dottiedodah]

Andy Burnham is proposing to govern from Manchester when he starts on July 20th.How can this be so ? Surely all previous governments have been based in London?

I can top that. I'm northern and went to a northern university... which (during my first year, anyway), turned out to be full of southerners who proceeded to treat me like I kept coal in the bath for having the temerity to actually be northern.😬

(That's not a dig at southerners generally, btw - just these specific ones. They used to 'correct' my pronunciation of place names I'd known all my life. The arrogance and snobbery of these particular individuals was truly breathtaking.)

No, because as has been pointed out many times, this is just one, new department not the whole of parliament.

If he gets in I'll be upset with him if he doesn't put any proposals forward for Blackpool, the town desperately needs it. (Ditto similarly struggling towns, obviously.)

My main concern is practical. He hasn’t got very long to do any of this before the next election. It sounds good. Delivering it will be very difficult long term. Short term, a few offices in different parts of the country is easily done. Whether they influence anything is another matter.

When he gets in. Unless someone else steps forward, he’ll get in. And someone else stepping forward seems almost inconceivable at this point.

In the Midlands?? Manchester? What are you actually on about?!

Fair comment.

I wish someone else would step forward. Not because I have any particular issue with Andy Burnham, just because I think some sort of contest would probably be good to test out different ideas rather than having an effective “coronation”.

RTWT. Only the department making devolution happen. We already cough up for trains and hotels to London as the majority of MPs don't live there.

I'm not clear which bits he's taking with him

Would it mean that some people have to move? For their jobs I mean.

given the morality of all of our politicians, it would not be shocking if someone is quietly waiting in the wings to plunge a dagger.

Gove/Boris de Pfeffel spring to mind

He did mention the SW in his speech. His whole idea is wider devolution to the regions, so to the regions that don't yet have devo, get at it, to those like GM who have had it for a while - what next on the devo agenda.

It does make sense to me to localise interventions at a level that is big enough to be able to deliver but small enough to recognise sub-regional nuance, rather than a UK/England wide model which forms around the lowest common denominator.

It's working so well now, then?! Fringe benefits that currently include what they do are excessive. MPs should be MPs for many reasons, but not that. As for the bar/security issues, they have to travel from and to constituency in the majority of cases, I've never been convinced by the security explanation as they don't have to prioritise drinking during and after work. Regardless, the current set up is too costly and needs stripping right back.

He's setting up a new department but hasn't said in detail who will work in it other than his deputy chief of staff, who's Manchester-based already. I would imagine some Treasury and HCLG bods will have to work from Mancester but with remote working and the proximity of Manchester to London, few will have to relocate unless they choose to.

Well that's good to know.

@IdaGlossop thank you

So where does it get 'stripped back' apart from the obvious subsidised bar?

Think this through. All debating, voting and select committee activity will continue to take place in Westminster. The devolution operations centre Burnham proposes setting up in Manchester will be part of the civil service, so apart of Whitehall. If lots of MPs need to be at briefings on devolution, the Manchester officials will go to London.

I'm northern and lived in London for 20 years. Me, I can't abide northerners or southerners. Contempt from proximity. I'm a hermit now, living in my shed.

That sounds awful. I hope you gave them a gob full. Abit stupid to correct you under those circumstances.

The multiple- not one or 2- cafes and restaurants which are run at a loss and subsidised by public funding. As MPs earn approximately £60,000 a year more than I do, and not many of us get these lavish facilities, its excessive. I don't necessarily begrudge them the onsite gym or medical and occupational health team....but I do the bars, cafes and restaurants on their salaries which if they need to be there should be run on a profit basis, not at a defecit. Most of us either take lunches or use outlets that, bizarrely, make a profit. Canteens at some companies that are run for the benefit of their staff are in the private sector. Westminster eateries are propped up by us.

@IdaGlossop

"I'm a hermit now, living in my shed" best place to be shielded from total mediocrity. 😊

They are also for staff, some of whom are earning just under £26000.

He doesn't propose to move 'the government' to Manchester. He proposes to move one specific part of the Prime Minister's office/staff to Manchester, which is a perfectly reasonable idea.

Exactly.

I’m not sure people are listening to what he’s actually saying.

Sounds like a lot of the media are trying to make this divisive just like they do with everything else.