Would Andy Burnham’s people and place-first politics survive a return to Westminster?

As the Mayor of Greater Manchester quite literally runs down the campaign trail in the Makerfield by-election, amid speculation about his national ambitions, it has been fascinating to see his record weaponised by people on all sides.

The Daily Mail’s sudden obsession with Andy Burnham is a sign that middle England is at least slightly worried about his prospects. The Spectator asked whether he is really responsible for Greater Manchester’s much heralded economic renaissance. An insightful piece in Manchester publication The Mill offered a useful perspective from its editor and founder, Joshi Herrmann, based on his experience of the GM mayor over six years.

As a son of Salford, in Greater Manchester, who has worked alongside Andy Burnham on many occasions, I’ve got skin in the game too.

I first met and interviewed him at the In The City music industry conference in Manchester in 2008. He was culture secretary and I was a Manchester Evening News feature writer - you can read the article here.

I was struck by the Westminster politician’s passion for music and sport, and the interview provided me with an early insight into his belief in the power of culture and a ‘people-and-place-first’ approach.

The 2017 mayoral hustings took place in a building where I worked, so I went to listen in, not realising then that this was a foundational moment for me and Manchester. I went on to support Andy Burnham’s work in a content, communications and PR capacity in two public sector roles: first as Manchester Content Curator at Marketing Manchester, funded by the Greater Manchester Local Enterprise Partnership, on whose board he sat; and later as a strategic communications lead at Transport for Greater Manchester, helping to launch the Bee Network and leading communications on the revised GM Clean Air Plan, which secured a new legal direction from government.

Ask the vast majority of my former ‘Manchester family’ public sector communications colleagues whether Andy Burnham has been good for GM, and the answer would be a definitive ‘yes’. 

The Clean Air Plan may have been weaponised as evidence of his tendency to sometimes make poor initial decisions and then U-turn on policy — or, more positively, to listen to genuine concerns and admit when he got something wrong — but it came from good intentions. It was conceived at a time when net zero, and in turn air quality, offered the GM mayor an opportunity to set an ambitious stretch target. GM still has a target of achieving net zero by 2038, 12 years ahead of the national target.

Equally, his contested ‘ownership’ of Manchester’s economic growth is something he and many other civic leaders have repeatedly been quick to qualify.

All acknowledge that they are standing on the shoulders of giants in a city-region that has been striving to regenerate and grow for more than 40 years.

The last nine has felt decidedly different, and devolution has been an incredibly important ingredient, as has the mayor’s success in seizing and shaping the opportunities it presents. Critics may simply suggest that he has delivered national policy locally, but the reality is that he has helped to write that policy in the first place, twisting Westminster’s arm to give Greater Manchester what it wanted.

We have seen massive change across public transport, which is now back in public control. Reform is underway across skills and education, with new qualifications for young people who do not want a university degree.

Manchester’s control of its health and social care budget has attracted far less attention, and it will be interesting to see what emerges on that front during the by-election campaign.

It will also be fascinating to see whether the priorities reflected in GM’s trailblazer funding deal with government, and 2025 Greater Manchester Strategy, will become areas of national focus should Andy Burnham enter Number 10.

Has he done enough here to convince people that he would be good down there? 

What he has done incredibly well is to represent the interests of ordinary people while forging pragmatic – and sometimes problematic – relationships with figures in the private sector. 

He sets seemingly impossible targets for himself and others, often via media headlines, and has become an energetic activist and cheerleader for the people of Greater Manchester.

His battles with Westminster have included calling for rail investment and parity on Covid lockdowns.

The dynamic would need to shift significantly if he was the one making national policy and spending decisions. 

Greater Manchester was already a fantastic place before Andy Burnham was elected mayor. Now it is even more — and more famously — so and he deserves some credit for that. His biggest success has been putting place and people before party politics.

No single person can take responsibility for Greater Manchester’s current swagger, but there is no doubt that Andy Burnham has inspired others to do incredible things. Imagine if, as a country, we showed the same belief in our strengths and successes.