In our part of the world, there’s a well-worn saying: “This is Manchester. We do things differently here.”
Some doubt whether Factory Records’ Tony Wilson ever actually said these words. But it doesn’t matter. It has stuck and that’s because it speaks to a widely held feeling about the place.
Manchester has a long tradition of doing politics differently. In the 19th and 20th centuries, it was the centre of radical efforts to change parliamentary democracy. But has today’s more representative House of Commons massively changed the lot of working people and working-class women as much as the Peterloo marchers and the Suffragettes hoped? The stark inequalities exposed by the pandemic suggest not.
Despite more ordinary men and women becoming MPs, we have not succeeded in altering the fundamental structures of the London-centric, male-dominated, elite-ruled British state. This is why, in the 21st century, we have switched our focus to taking power out of parliament rather than putting different people in.
Many people have asked me why Labour’s council results here were better than elsewhere. One reason is we have been using devolution to forge a new way of doing politics: bottom-up, more participatory, more connected.
Rough sleeping was the big issue of my first mayoral campaign and, in the four years since, we have involved hundreds of people in a Homelessness Action Network, which has helped turn the situation around. The idea for our flagship A Bed Every Night scheme came not from a politician but from one of our faith leaders, the Rev Ian Rutherford. Similarly, the idea of a free bus pass for 16- to 18-year-olds started with a plea at a manifesto consultation from Olivia Clarke, an activist with a group called Reclaim, set up to help young working-class people.
If you bring power closer to people, you create the conditions for involving more people in its use – and that is energising in a way that top-down Westminster politics can never be. This is why English devolution, as distinct from Welsh and Scottish devolution, is a potential gamechanger for British politics – and for the Labour party, if it chooses to seize it.
Keir Starmer has undoubtedly faced the most difficult conditions in his first year of any recent Labour leader. In some ways, the job is only starting in earnest now. But it does need to start now, with real change to the way Labour has been going about things. I want Keir to succeed, and am here to help him in any way I can. To that end, I would offer these suggestions.
First, provide wholehearted support for true devolution. Thanks to its centralising instincts, Labour has been, at best, lukewarm about English devolution. It needs to ditch that mindset. Devolution to the city-region level is the life-raft Labour can use in areas where it is struggling. It offers the precious opportunity to rebuild from the bottom up and connect with communities who are not listening to the Westminster Labour message.
Deeper devolution might also open the door to the party’s way back in Scotland. One of the weaknesses with the way the SNP governs is that it hoovers up power from the local level as part of its efforts to consolidate Scotland’s national identity. The creation of a centralised Police Scotland is a case in point. This risks leaving disempowered Scottish towns and cities in the same need of levelling up, which Labour can speak to afresh.
Second, pick resonant themes and paint things in primary colours. One reason Labour’s messages don’t cut through is they are overly nuanced and cautious. Fear of being branded profligate runs deep in parts of the party. While understandable, this can have a stultifying effect on opposition. We felt it last year when we only received half-hearted support in our dispute with the government over tier 3 restrictions. The answer is not to try to solve everything, which is expensive, but to pick a limited number of evocative themes.
Start with social care, a commitment to provide it on NHS terms and with pay parity for the care workforce with NHS staff. This brings me to a point about Labour’s approach to identity politics. I think we can do more to advance fair pay for women with a unifying message about social care wages than by talking about women’s pay in abstract and leaving low-paid men feeling no one speaks for them.
Third, come up with a Labour version of levelling up. We are fast approaching the second anniversary of the prime minister entering office with a promise to “level up” the country. This is the defining theme of this parliament. And yet we hear there is “widespread cluelessness” within government about what it means. How about Labour filling this vacuum and backing Greater Manchester’s call for London-level bus fares for the rest of England?
Fourth, build the next Labour manifesto not from focus groups but the policies of Labour councils and mayors. That would have the effect of promoting their work but also rooting our policies in the real world.
The lesson for Labour from Greater Manchester is that if the party is prepared to change, it can win back the “red wall”. But breaking out of its London-centric ways must be real and immediate.
Andy Burnham is mayor of Greater Manchester
