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?

Which government matters can be taken care of in London but cannot be done in Manchester?

Wow. You mean there are places outside of London which are still England!

So he doesn’t want to move to London because his wife has a job in Manchester. He hasn’t even been elected and he’s already dictating a move by Government to his fiefdom. He didn’t take bother to questions today. There’s confidence and there’s downright arrogance. Person not convinced yet.

Its not the whole government, just part of it. But anyway, why not? Manchester is booming. London is ridiculously expensive to live in, and people are great up here.

Its one small part of the government. And suggesting he won’t move because of ‘his wife’s job’ is nonsense.

Well Keir Starmer was duly elected, unlike Burnham.

He will have to ditch the North /South conversation. There is not a split line which divides poor or rich. There are riches in the North. There is poverty in the South. It is far more subtle. Coastal areas are a mix.
I know I have lived in the North. There are some very wealthy people there. And some very poor. Actually the Midlands arguably have suffered much as have many coastal areas from lack of investment.
He will have to change his tone. If he wants to win an election in a few years that is.

As long as he actually governs, I don't care where he does it from.

Burnhham was elected in exactly the same way as Starmer. PM is a matter for the party with the most MPs to decide.
Im not a fan of Burnham and I don’t like the way this whole thing has been orchestrated, but he’s just as much right to be PM as any other Labour MP if the party pick him.

The Labour Party were elected - by having a majority in parliament via the number of MPs - and on the basis of the party’s manifesto,

Totally agree @Monty36 . In Kent for example there are plenty of left behind places. Thanet, Medway for a start.

We didn't vote for a Prime Minister two years ago. We voted for a government. Constitutionally, a coronation is in order because: the Labour Party was elected in a general election; any elected Labour MP can choose to stand as leader of the Labour Party; if only Burnham stands, there will be no vote for Labour leader; Burnham will be confirmed in post as leader of the Labour Party; as Labour are in government, he will become PM.

and they've all done so well, haven't they 😆

Yes, I live in Manchester too and I had to send a carrier pigeon with this message to someone within the M25 as obviously we have none of that new fangled t’internet or owt up ‘ere. Just off to walk the whippet before eating my chips and gravy with a pint of stout.

Historically parliaments have been based in York, Leicester, Oxford, Coventry and various other places OP. And they were travelling by horse…

Sure, why don’t we have another leader on the carousel? Hell, why don’t you have a go?

Stop wishing people to fail. Our government has been an embarrassment for 10 years, for gods sakes let someone fucking govern without frothing at the mouth. I’m not a Burnham fan and I am ready to give the man a damned chance, stopping wetting yourselves in hope he fails so Farage can make himself king.

It does matter where Parliament is run from. All the other MP’s leave their constituencies to attend it. They have expenses in doing so. Second homes etc.
He already knows a lot of Government depts are already located in the North.
But if he seeks to split Westminster by having an alternative in the North that is a recipe for disaster.
Sooner or later some argument will occur about whose decisions take precedence over the other. Does the country follow rules made by North 10 or Downing St 10 ?
Unnecessary and divisive.

As was York once in the 13th and 14th Century.

Indeed. It didn’t last.

Ok, must admit I didn’t understand the technicalities of overthrowing a current leader and prime minister and it seems the consensus is it’s perfectly valid. It all does seem like a bit of an inside job by power hungry players.

Manchester is in the North West.

How much is this going to cost?

Well it has been less than 2 weeks since he won Makerfield. Not much time to draw up the complete plans.

@Chritrup very good points about the emerging attack lines.

Oh dear. We don’t have a presidential system; we vote for MPs who choose their leader to form a government. Burnham was elected by his constituents and if the majority of Labour MPs choose him, that is due process.

presumably you also get to be a midlander. it's interesting cos normally the northerners and southerners have no concept of the middle, they think everyone is either N or S. now suddenly most of the country except a few miles outside of Scotland or London is Midlands 😂