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. I would like to see AB visit Redruth, Camborne or Penzance. The poverty is beyond belief. I haven't heard him mention the SW once yet. I am fed up of him going on and on about the north when he evidently has no idea of the poverty in the South West.

True, very gimmicky.

The pp may be looking at the cost of Manchester Digital Campus, which is where No.10 North will eventually be sited. Total costs are expected to be in the region of £1bn.

The estimated cost is currently £310 million it’s estimated that £4.32 of public benefit will be returned for every £1 invested.

Thats just the construction costs. The total cost of the project is expected to be around £1bn.

As a Mancunian born and bred, who has a large family business based in Greater Manchester, Burnham has had little or no input in productivity in Greater Manchester. In fact I would go as far as to say he has little or no business acumen. But lets see how he goes on in the next few month. Yes he has wasted money on the ULEZ scheme, most of it has not been re purposed, as you put it! Over £600,000 wasted on taking down bloody signs only in the last few months. Greater Manchester police should not have been in special measures in the first place, again on his watch. Picacadilly Gardens are an absolute disgrace. Crime up. Homelessness up also on his watch. He has also failed the victims of the grooming gangs, see Maggie. Also which major regeneration projects do you mean please and which areas?

Yes he will be judged on what he achieves and quickly too. You dont know what most people in the country think at all. I would say the poster you are criticising as having hysterical pre conceived ideas is actually saying what people in Manchester know anyway.

Someone explained that what has happened over the years is a decision is made to invest in something by the Gov - the treasury looks at it and decides well it has most chance of being successful in London/ Cambridge/ Oxford so we will invest there - and it’s self-fulfilling that nothing goes to poorer areas with fewer skills. And so it goes on…

Obviously, people in Manchester don’t all have one opinion of Andy Burnham. I’m a lifelong Mancunian too and my opinion is different to yours.

We do know though, for a fact, what the significant majority of people in Manchester think of Andy Burnham, because the significant majority of Mancunians liked what he was doing enough to keep electing him: he was elected three times with a majority of over sixty percent each time. Unpopular politicians, or politicians people were unimpressed by in their first term simply do not achieve that kind of electoral success.

Manchester has always been Labour so the fact he got elected 3 times does not surprise me. It is not a case that people like what he is doing but more the fact that they have always voted Labour so continue to do so. The rest of the country is a different kettle of fish and he will be judged on his performance very quickly.

Exactly don’t be ridiculous.

It wouldn’t surprise anyone. However his majority was massive and rose in every election he won.You can argue all you like but the figures speak for themselves.

Yes because it is a Labour stronghold. Argue about what exactly? Or can we only have an opinion if we agree with you?

You’re arguing with voting figures not my opinion.

Where have I been arguing with voting figures?? Maybe read what I wrote, inference not your strongest point.

You’re being rude again. The fact that Burnham’s majority increased with every successive mayoral election can’t be attributed to Manchester being a Labour stronghold. I live in the constituency that had the highest Tory majority in the country once - a Tory stronghold - the incumbent MP struggled in with a 2000 majority in 2024. Strongholds don’t stay that way, let alone strengthen, if the elected representative isn’t performing.

The only person being rude is you. Please do not misinterpret or tell me what I have said. Manchester has always been a Labour stronghold, from way back, nothing to do with Burnham!

I didn’t say Burnham had made Manchester a Labour stronghold. I said his vote share wouldn’t have risen in every consecutive election if that was the reason.

Strongholds can change if the elected representative is useless - I live in one that has. We’ve gone from a majority in 1992 (36,230) which was the largest majority for any member of parliament since 1832 down to a majority of 2000 in 2024.

And I’ve been impeccably polite.

Shock news - Greater Manchester is not one borough. It does not consist of mill towns, with cobbled streets and bare foot children sparking clogs.
Stockport = Lib Dem, Trafford Labour at the moment but strong Tory borough for a long time, and it’s only the influx of southerners via the BBC that has turned Trafford Labour.

Having spent my first 35 years in Greater London before moving North, I’ve noticed a massive cultural disconnect. Many people here don’t realise just how brutal Southern commutes actually are. Down South, a 1.5-hour train journey each way is standard for workers from Essex, the South West, and the Midlands. Up here, people expect a 30-minute commute max and a hard stop at 5:00 PM. Ironically, I know people who moan about London having all the opportunities, yet they turn down jobs requiring even occasional travel. They want London salaries, but they seem to expect a 9-5 and a job right on their doorstep.

Shock horror, born, bred, family business in Manchester so do know where Greater Manchester is. I never mentioned cobbled streets and bare foot children how insulting. I know all about who votes what in Manchester and Greater Manchester. So don’t try and lecture me in anything about Manchester.

He also seems to forget theres a north above Liverpool. West and north Cumbria by the border has so much deprivation and has the complexity not being near a large city and having massive expance of countryside. The carlisle hospital got rated as the second worst in the country and is on special measures, there no NHS dentists in the area, theres 8 people needing a home to every rental house that goes in the market. Its all very well cutting bus fairs when you have a local bus. But when your bus stop is 2 miles away and a bus comes every 45 minutes and goes to two places, what good is that.
Im not sure the stratagies used in manchester are going to work in these areas.

That’s right the strategy used inManchester won’t work in other places so the plan is to devolve power so local people make local decisions. Unless you think it would be best for people in London to make decisions for you?

The North is south to the whole of my country. Is he just the PM of England, he’s handing the DNP more votes by not noticing his UK geography is off. Can he not just be clear, it the north of England he is only interested in.

Sadly we have our own Gov ☹️

Not the first to mention it, but I wish Burnham, the government, opposition, itv, bbc etc would realise that Manchester isn’t the north. There’s a whole lot of Cumbria, parts of Yorkshire, Durham, Northumberland that are further north, but you’d think they just don’t exist

You’re really NOT the first 🙄