Standard Chartered Bank’s Chief Economist for Europe and UK, Christopher Graham, reviews Andy Burnham’s plan to make devolution a central pillar of his premiership. The report highlights the UK’s unusually centralised structure versus OECD peers, outlines potential gains from shifting power to local institutions, and stresses that benefits and costs depend on pace, design and institutional strength of devolution.

Burnham’s Manchesterism and UK centralisation

"Andy Burnham has signalled that as prime minister he would make devolution a key pillar of his vision for reforming the British state."

"Burnham’s tenure as mayor of Greater Manchester since 2017 – during which the city-region’s growth has been twice that of the UK – has shaped his political vision, ‘Manchesterism’, a form of economic devolution that shifts power from Westminster to local institutions to drive more inclusive, place-based growth that helps reduce regional inequalities."

"Devolution could serve Burnham well by offering the Labour Party an overarching economic vision that was often lacking under Starmer and could command some degree of cross-party support."

"The UK is also one of the most centralised advanced economies, according to OECD data, and separate studies have pointed to particularly large disparities in economic performance and productivity relative to its peers."

"The academic consensus on whether devolution delivers economic benefits is mixed, however, as is the evidence of the UK’s modern devolution agenda since 1999."

(This article was created with the help of an Artificial Intelligence tool and reviewed by an editor.)