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.

I am in no way a nationalist.
But you have completely missed out Scotland, Wales and NI. The UK is not just England

Why is pointing out Manchester is not in the north of the uk not doing northerners any favours?
I stay 250 north of Manchester and would not class myself as Northern, no where near it.
If Andy Burnham was just the PM of England, which it seems a lot of posters seem to think he is, then yes Manchester would be classed as north, but, and you can’t get away from factual geography, Manchester is not in the North of the UK so calling an office in Manchester Downing Street North is ridiculous

@PliudevYes, Cornish people were like turkeys voting for Christmas - as others were. I find if hard to accept that taxes go up to help those areas who voted for Brexit and made themselves worse off.

How can Andy Burnham simultaneously be a northerner with a chip on his shoulder who cares not one pea wet for the poor people of Slough, and also be nowhere near a northerner becuse he’s not from Orkney? There are literally a million things worth arguing about but whether Manchester is geographically northern enough to satisfy the pedants of mn is not one of them.

The North is a big area. Within it are pockets of wealth, but also many areas of deprivation. The South is a big area. Within it are pockets of wealth, but also many areas of deprivation. It is not at all helpful to suggest one part of the United Kingdom is either wealthier or poorer than another part. What is needed is a good look at where help is needed, and the finances provided to improve matters for those communities in need, wherever in the United Kingdom they happen to be.
A ‘North/South divide’ attitude is divisive and counterproductive.

Because he is not the PM of England, where Manchester may be classed northern, he is PM of the whole country, and as such Manchester is most definitely not northern.

Oh it'll push up house prices like the BBC moving to Salford did.
The civil service will stay in London even if they pretend to move some up north.

Excellent response.

FFS who cares?!
We all know what part of the world he is talking about when he says “The North”

100% this !!!!

Sorry, how many London and South East-centric PMs have we had over the years??? Most of them out of touch and probably never ventured north of Birmingham. Finally we have someone more real and all the Southeners are complaining.

I'm a Southener too but live in the North. I think Andy is great

Really? Which part is he meaning when he talks about The North?

Have you ever driven on the motorway in England @sharkymacand seen the massive road signs saying “The North”?

Northern England, or the North of England, often referred to as simply the North, is the northern part of England and mainly corresponds to the historic counties of Cheshire, Cumberland, Durham, Lancashire, Northumberland, Westmorland and Yorkshire.

This is the area AB is talking about when he says “The North” - no one is saying he’s not the PM for Scotland - but that’s not the area we are currently focusing on.

HTH.

There are some really obtuse posts on here just trying to score a point by pretending not to know what the north is.

Semi-professional Northerner?

Right?!

They've probably never been further west than Slough either, other than an Oxford education. The South doesn't end with the Home Counties.

Absolutely!!!

In the same way a Londoner can come from the North (of the RIver) but still be a Southerner. It depends on your frame of reference. If you set your frame of reference as being England the other nations will get pissed off.

Would anyone dispute someone from north London being a southerner though? I doubt it.

However doubting that Manchester is on the north just because they think people might have forgotten about Scotland is obtuse.

This map from BBC bitsize gives a good example of where the line comes. Just because the north is longer in miles than the south doesn't mean it's not all still the north, culturally, socially and economically. Population wise the split is fairly even.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/z332sg8/revision/6

It's hardly a new thing though is it? Cameroon was pushing his Northern Powerhouse agenda introducing creating the Regional Mayors. Johnson had his leveling up agenda. Sunak moved much of the Treasury to the North of England. Even before that Blair relocated the BBC to Salford which arguably did far more for the regeneration of Manchester than painting the buses yellow.

Ultimately you an lead a horse to water but you cant make it get off its arse and stop claiming benefits.

I think this is a very English assumption. People in Scotland don't talk about the North and the South referring to places in England. If you say you're visiting the North East, people assume you're visiting north east Scotland. People talk about going down south to Newcastle. I wasn't even really aware of the north-south divide in England until I arrived at university (where my English flatmates were even more clueless about Scotland than I was about England). I'd argue the road signs are pointing essentially pointing to everything that is north - the M6 is the route to the M74 and is very much the route north to Scotland. You often see posts on Reddit being ridiculed with Americans insisting the South is a universal term for their southern states. It's very similar. 'The North' is an English term used by people in England.

I do think it's interesting this thread went back and forth shouting about the north v the south with absolutely no mention of the other home nations. Northern Ireland has barely had a mention at all - it is all but forgotten in British politics.

As I put its all about how you frame it. How many people living in Cardiff really consider themselves to be Northerners?

Funny you should ask that. My family in South Wales align themselves with the north, not the south.

“The North” also isn’t just a geographic location. It’s come to mean something very tangible culturally, socially, and yes- politically and economically. Much of this has its roots in post- industrial decline. Where you draw the line is slightly irrelevant ; what is relevant is that there is a large swathe of the country that has fared far far worse than others economically, and not only to the detriment of The North/ Northerners- but nationally.

What you’re seeing is political correction - yes the pendulum looks like it’s swinging quite far- but it has to to make the overall correction. Hopefully we’ll see the economic pendulum follow!