a day ago
Is London really worried about Manchester having its moment?
When luxury French fashion house Chanel took over the Northern Quarter in late 2023, Manchester was said to be 'having a moment'.
Since then, the city has hosted both the Michelin awards and MTV EMAs, cementing its place on the map when it comes to culture.
This week, there was more good news. For the first time in its near-50-year history, the BRIT Awards will leave London and head north.
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Days later, Rachel Reeves dropped hints that she would back plans that could capitalise on this momentum with long-lasting effects.
Unveiling her long-awaited Spending Review on Wednesday (June 11), the Chancellor said she would soon be revealing plans to 'take forward' Northern Powerhouse Rail - a decade-old project for a new high-speed railway to connect cities across the north of England.
It comes after the Manchester Evening News joined forces with the Liverpool ECHO to call for a new line connecting our two cities as part of mayor Andy Burnham's plans for a 'Northern Arc' which he says could help boost the economy by £90bn over the next 15 years.
The M.E.N. understands that 'hundreds of millions' of pounds have now been set aside to develop plans for the Manchester-Liverpool railway over the next few years with details of other new lines and rail upgrades across the north set to be announced next week.
Ms Reeves has also promised to 'rewrite the rules' so that government funding no longer favours London over projects elsewhere.
But while the rest of the country welcomed the news, London's mayor Sadiq Khan complained that the capital was being left behind.
In a statement issued after the Chancellor delivered the spending review, Sir Sadiq raised concerns about insufficient funding for the Met - something police chiefs in Greater Manchester have also expressed - and a lack of investment in new infrastructure for London.
He said: "The way to level up other regions will never be to level down London. I'll continue to fight for the investment we need so that we can continue building a fairer, safer and greener London for everyone."
Local leaders have dismissed suggestions that London is being 'levelled down', highlighting the capital's superior transport network.
However, according to Rose Marley, who chairs the Manchester-based Beyond the Music, some in London are genuinely concerned.
She said: "I've been in and out of Whitehall all week and whether it's the spending review, plans for the Northern Arc or even landing the Brits, I've consistently heard that 'London' is concerned about how much is going to the regions. I find that incredulous really."
Last week, a think tank revealed a £140bn chasm between transport funding for London and the north under the last government.
Independent analysis of Treasury figures by IPPR North has found that, in the 10 years up to 2022/23, the government spent £1,183 per person in London. During the same period, the north saw just £486 per person spent on transport projects across the whole region.
Responding to claims that public investment in transport has favoured London in recent years, the mayor's office pointed to figures which show that the government spent less money on each public transport journey in the capital compared to the rest of Britain.
A spokesperson for the Mayor of London said: "The Mayor has always believed that economic growth in the UK IS not a 'zero sum game' and we should not be pitting our towns and cities against each other.
"He supports levelling up the entire country – but has been clear that this cannot be done by levelling down London.
"London is the engine of our national economy – so restricting investment to the capital doesn't just limit our power and dynamism, but risks jeopardising growth, job-creation and new opportunities across the UK.
"The Elizabeth Line created 55,000 new jobs and 1,000 apprenticeships across the country and investment in schemes like the Docklands Light Railway extension would also boost growth nationally.
"The Mayor will always stand up for London and is determined to work with all regions of the country to deliver growth and prosperity."
