Poverty isn’t just a Northern issue Andy.

[SummerSummerSummertime]

Caught the Prime Minister on a podcast this week and he’s really stuck on a constant, hyper-focus on the North. Ok we get it, things are bad up there (former industrial heartlands etc) but as PM for the whole country, he needs to remember that hardship doesn't stop at a regional border if he wants to maintain national support.
Severe deprivation is happening right across the country, not just in northern heartlands:

London: The capital holds some of the highest actual poverty rates once astronomical housing costs are factored in.

Coastal Communities: Southern seaside towns face deep, hidden deprivation, low wages, and crumbling infrastructure.

The South & Midlands: High living expenses, struggling high streets, and insecure work hit low-income families everywhere.

He also claimed on the podcast that past governments just saw the North as "different" and forgot about it. But by constantly banging on about the North, isn't he just fuelling that exact same fire?
If he keeps treating the North as a special case, he's actively reinforcing a regional divide. Moving focus or power from Whitehall to Manchester might sound great on a podcast, but it does absolutely nothing for a struggling family in a southern coastal town who feel just as invisible to this new government as they did to the last one.
Poverty is a national crisis, not a regional identity.

If Andy wants to keep broad support, his messaging needs to acknowledge and support struggling communities everywhere.

Agreed.

One of the worst if not the worst is in the Clacton constituency. Who might have an MP who visits there if they choose Count Binface next week.

Very good example!

And I’m not saying this as a Reform supporter or even a right winger. I’m a life long lefty. I would LOVE Andy to be the best PM we’ve ever had. But jeeze he needs to give that Northern chip a rest.

My BIL is a 'professional northerner '. Andy Burnham makes him look like he's not even trying. We live near the border with Wales . Our roads are the worst in the country. The whole northern focus is a pain.

On the plus side, he does sound way more likeable than Keir though. It was a good interview if you want to listen to it it’s on Elizabeth Day - How To Fail.

I agree and Manchester is a long way south of me.

Successive governments have paid lip service to "levelling up" the North South divide with a "northern powerhouse " and the wonder of HS2. It never happened. So I'll believe it when I see it with the latest PM.

Of course there are huge pockets of poverty all over the country. However I do agree that government has often focussed on London and the south. It's like men saying when is there going to be an international men's day - I'm sure some men aren't doing as well as they might but historically men as a whole have come off better and it's good for once to redress the balance.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zqhvmnb/revision/2 has some simple interesting figures.

If this is the podcast How to Fail this is a bit disingenuous as he is responding to questions about his own life and experiences. In his first speech layung iur his plans he specifically talked about costal towns and London and how he wanted "good growth in every area."

His ideas on devolution of power with financial clout will help everywhere else too.

I’m sure that’s how many northerners have felt about previous PMs. All the focus being on elsewhere. I don’t think it will do harm to have one single MP focus on a region for a few years. Hopefully it will bear fruit leading to improved economy, livelier cities up there and more employment options and this will trickle into benefiting the country as a whole.

Plus any highly effective moves can then be applied to other regions. See the north as a test pilot, nobody has said other regions will never get similar boosts after.

I was born in the North West and live in the South and the main contrast I see between the two is opportunity. In the South there are choices to better your life, work opportunities and education that just don't exist in the North. There is poverty in both places but a huge divide in opportunity and seeing first hand that one's life can be different / better.

It’s not really the North he’s championing is it. It’s Manchester. It takes me longer to get to Manchester from my nearest station in NE England than it does to get to London because I have to change, there’s no direct route.

He’s no different than a London centric PM. He just focuses on Manchester instead. I don’t feel better about him because he’s northern. He’s still in a big city, still won’t get rural and coastal issues, still forgets other parts of the country are different.

I agree OP.

And I think that the No 10 of the North should have been set up somewhere other than Manchester if he genuinely wanted to bring growth to an area that needs it.

Manchester has already had loads of growth and investment. It comes across that he’s just setting up his own city to prosper, and because it’s convenient for him.

I also think he’s sowing division. He needs to wrap his head around the fact he’s representing everyone now because it really doesn’t feel like it. And I say this as both a lefty and someone nowhere near the southeast - I’m over by Wales.

This is it precisely.

Can you honestly say that there are more job opportunities in the South West? We have some of the highest house prices, least amount of public spending in the country and fewest opportunities for school leavers. Yet we are expected to subsidise the North?

I do think that getting politicians out of the super rich enclaves around London will help them understand poverty much better

and I do think that we would solve a lot of the previously mentioned problems if work was more evenly distributed- the crazy London housing market is because every business that wants to have its main office in central London and needs people to get into it - the more decentralisation for the uk the better

work and opportunities

although I’d call Manchester the midlands myself

That's really interesting, thanks.

If you’re talking about the How to Fail podcast, he was asked about his own upbringing and experiences, so naturally he talked specifically about the North. Elsewhere though, he’s talked extensively about empowering all the regions: the slogan is “good growth in every postcode”, its absolutely not about North v South.

He wants regional mayors, wherever they are in the country, to have more fiscal control and more decision making powers within their region. It’s not about giving Manchester more - it’s about giving more places the kind of successful devolution Manchester has had.

If I’m honest, I do think there is a fair bit of Northern prejudice at play in the claims he’s fuelling a North/ South divide - just because he has a Northern accent doesn’t mean he only cares about the North.

London and the south east have opportunities, as @LifeBeginsToday says. The museums, cultural opportunities, public spaces and transport are incomparable. Anything you are interested in is available to explore.

Less true of the south west, of course.

Good point.

I came to comment that the OP came across as very “International Men’s Day” vibes.

Bringing the North up to the same level that London/South has always had does not detract from the other regions who have historically had more focus.

and my understanding is that he’s applying what he knows about the North to push for progress in all of the previously neglected areas of the country.

Totally agree with this, I grew up in the North East and unless I wanted to work in a call centre there was nothing there for me, moved to the south where there are just so many more opportunities and I’ve been able to have a career with good pay and promotions.

Poverty is a national issue, I worked in deprived communities in the rich South East. Its not fun being on minimum wage, or disability benefits, in an area where housing costs 3 times what it does in the north. You don't get London weighting on the benefits system either, and the cost of living is much higher.

Shifting government offices around is just re-distribution of the existing economic pie - it will not cause the whole pie/cake to grow.

However, I do think we need a "showman" type PM who is prepared to try and boost the economy, rather than another lawyer happy with managed decline.

(and I say that as a tory voter).

At least these ideas are new?