Some politicians in the United Kingdom hope a growing movement in the city of Manchester could help turbocharge the country\u2019s political and economic landscape. This school of thought, dubbed Manchesterism, originated in the city decades ago, but has been championed by Greater Manchester\u2019s mayor in recent months. But while many people in Manchester view the idea positively, it has been received with more skepticism across the U.K. at large.<\/p>\n
What is Manchesterism? <\/p>\n It is a \u201cmodern and functional response to the high-inequality, low-growth trap that came from the 1980s drive to over-centralize political power,\u201d said the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA)<\/a>. One major tenet of Manchesterism is laissez-faire or free market economics; proponents of the theory argue that major economic problems are caused by the deindustrialization of businesses.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Manchesterism also goes hand-in-hand with devolution, or the delegation of power from a centralized federal government to more local governments. In 2014, Manchester signed a devolution agreement that \u201cgives the region additional powers, and greater accountability through an elected mayor,\u201d said the GMCA<\/a>. Since then, there have been \u201cfurther deals that have brought new powers and responsibilities to the city region.\u201d<\/p>\n The Week<\/p>\n Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \nSUBSCRIBE & SAVE\n<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Sign up for The Week’s Free Newsletters<\/p>\n From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.<\/p>\n From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.<\/p>\n The city\u2019s government has adopted a positive view of Manchesterism. Manchester has<\/a> the \u201cfastest-growing city-region economy in the U.K., proof that it is possible to use public funds effectively while reducing crisis spending,\u201d said Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham in an op-ed at The Guardian<\/a>. Burnham, who has called Manchesterism \u201cbusiness-friendly socialism,\u201d thinks that deindustrialization \u201cleft people and businesses paying way over the odds for the essentials\u201d and is the \u201croot cause of today\u2019s cost-of-living crisis.\u201d Replicating Manchesterism on a national scale \u201ccould mean putting electoral reform center stage as the means to create a more collaborative politics.\u201d<\/p>\n Would it work across the United Kingdom?<\/p>\n Opinions are mixed on whether Manchesterism can have a practical effect<\/a> nationwide. It \u201ccould revive Britain\u2019s fading grandeur,\u201d said The New Statesman<\/a>, partially because it has happened in the U.K. before \u2014 the \u201cextraordinary economic success of Manchester, Liverpool, Cardiff and Leeds enabled Britain to take on its important role through the 19th century and into two world wars.\u201d Manchesterism could encourage Great Britain to \u201cremove one of the main barriers to U.K. prosperity and productivity by embracing a far more radical devolution of economic power to cities other than London<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n But Manchesterism is largely affiliated with the U.K.\u2019s center-left Labour Party<\/a>, which is \u201cnow far more commonly associated with the obsessions of metropolitan liberalism than with industrial organizing, worker representation, or old-fashioned class politics,\u201d said UnHerd<\/a>. Burnham\u2019s \u201chour may have come, but the jury\u2019s out on whether his inchoate offer of \u2018Manchesterism\u2019 is the answer to our precipitous trajectory of national decline.\u201d<\/p>\n Burnham additionally \u201cdoes not give us the price tag for his industrial strategy, but there is clearly a lot of money involved and most of it seems to be coming from the government,\u201d said The Critic<\/a>. He \u201cshould be commended for his focus on growth\u201d in Manchester, but the \u201cproblem is that he sees market failures everywhere and, like all industrial strategists, thinks he has found tremendous business opportunities that the brightest minds in the private sector have failed to spot.\u201d<\/p>\n