Significant moment in local & indeed national politics - leader of Manchester City Council, Sir Richard Leese, stands down after a quarter of a century, which started with the IRA bomb of the Arndale centre, encompassed Commonwealth Games, transformation of City centre…
What has happened in Manchester in that time is of profound national relevance, though rarely seen to be the case…
Eg You can’t really talk about “levelling up” as some sort of new phenomenon, without examining what happened in major cities, led by Manchester since 1990s…
Eg You can’t really talk about “levelling up” as some sort of new phenomenon, without examining what happened in major cities, led by Manchester since 1990s…
In Sir Richard’s case, it starts with a fundamental piece of strategic opportunism, helped by architect Ian Simpson. The bomb destroyed a chunk of the Arndale centre… instead of rebuilding it, they identified that bit of terrible urban planning as a block on investment for N MCR
Another ex of some wily quick thinking was when Gordon Brown pulled the plug on the Manchester super casino, the anchor of regeneration plans in east Manchester…instead the area was repackaged along with stadium for massive investment in MCFC & area by Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth
Sir Richard proved a wily operator under coalition Government, forging an alliance between his virtual one party city state and then Chancellor @george_osborne - never quite denying the suggestion of a rather direct in person intervention when Ed Balls flirted with canning HS2
There are obvious questions about the extent to which this strategy, of a highly strategic central leadership, deploying public funding, the private sector, and sovereign wealth capital, is in fact the model the whole country has shifted towards…
Also questions about the extent to which boosting one central city enough to create a magnet for global capital in to shiny regeneration efforts, creates a sustainable economic model for all (eg homelessness rates) and then also for the wider region (left behind towns)…
Reflecting back on when I mainly covered politics 2014-2019 - notable how unengaged Labour leaderships seemed with MCR transformation -even when, eg for EdM, seemed to encapsulate precisely what he was trying to communicate - strategic state using private sector to change lives
reflects significant difference between UK & other countries - pathway to national political leadership, typically doesn’t run through a record at a local or regional level. Perhaps that in turn is reflection on centralisation of media, political power, borrowing power in London
Last point -in upcoming Levelling Up white paper it will be interesting to see if there’s an attempt to suggest now is the first time such attempts to rebalance Britain’s economic geography have been tried, or instead it analyses what has happened over past 25 years in big cities
Many questions arise - perhaps its time for some sort of podcast! In the meantime happy retirement to @SirRichardLeese.
And I particularly enjoyed seeing his reaction in the City end at the Etihad in 2012 when Van Persie scored in injury time…
And I particularly enjoyed seeing his reaction in the City end at the Etihad in 2012 when Van Persie scored in injury time…
& Jen Williams obviously has the scoop on his replacement…
https://twitter.com/jenwilliamsmen/status/1465974171259834373?s=21
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