How to invigorate Britain’s second-tier cities
One superstar city does not a successful economy make
Manchester has plenty of swagger. It has the best team in club football, and is also home to Manchester United. Cranes dot the city centre. Its mayor, Andy Burnham, is the most recognised in the country, beating his counterparts in London and the West Midlands. Yet the cockiness disguises a big problem, for the city and for Britain. The Manchester urban area contains 3.4m people, making it about as populous as Amsterdam, Hamburg and San Diego. But its GDP per head at purchasing-power parity is at least a quarter lower than all three, and stuck at about 90% of the average in Britain itself.
This article appeared in the Leaders section of the print edition under the headline “Free the north”
From the December 10th 2022 edition
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