𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Andy Burnham has been warned that continually talking about Manchester will alienate voters in other parts of the country. Labour MP Steve Reed, a member of the cabinet until July, said a perception that the Government doesn’t care about London could help Conservative candidate James Cleverly in the capital’s mayoral election in 2028.

He also warned that voters in regions such as the Midlands could feel they are being ignored. And the MP, who represents the London constituency of Streatham and Croydon North, revealed Labour MPs had come to him with concerns. He said: “In a council by-election in my London constituency this summer I picked up rumblings of concern that Manchesterism is ‘anti-London’. I heard similar concerns from a group of West Midlands politicians and businesspeople who feared their region might become a forgotten ‘flyover zone’ between Manchester and London.”

Writing in the Times, Mr Reed added: “Too many voters worry that Manchesterism means benefits for other regions at their expense. This is a perception we must counter quickly because Tories like James Cleverly, openly bidding to be London’s next mayor, clearly intends to use it to cover up his government’s shameful record of cutting London’s police, doubling London’s homelessness, and starving London of funding year on year.”

And he said Labour MPs had told him they worried the party was handing power to its rivals. He said: “Many Labour MPs told me they feared devolution means handing power from a Labour government to Reform and Green mayors. Those views must be tackled head on.”

Mr Reed, a former local government secretary, said he backed the idea of devolving power to the regions of England, but said “we must do it in a way that avoids pitting regions against each other”.

Andy Burnham has told MPs he wants to spread the approach he took as Mayor of Greater Manchester for nine years across the UK. Speaking in Parliament earlier this month, he said: “The approach that I led in Manchester was all about the public taking control of what they need to do in order to make a place functional for businesses and people.

“That is Manchesterism, and that is what we will bring nationally.”

The Prime Minister said he had “a clear theory of growth and I will apply it to all parts of the UK, learning from what has been achieved in Greater Manchester”.

He has also spoken about his love of Manchester bands such as the Smiths – and Manchester’s pubs.