Andy Burnham has described 'Manchesterism' as a political philosophy for a more interventionist approach to the economy, as a new report reveals Manchester recorded the biggest fall in inner-city deprivation in Britain.
Manchester's Revitalisation
The Centre for Cities report found that between 2010 and 2025, Manchester saw a 17-percentage-point drop in deprivation rates for neighbourhoods close to its city centre, the largest decrease among 63 UK towns and cities analysed. This decline highlights the city's outsized contribution to falling levels of inner-city deprivation nationwide.
As the frontrunner to replace Keir Starmer, the Greater Manchester mayor has placed the city's economic performance at the heart of his campaign. Burnham is preparing to fight the Makerfield byelection before an expected leadership challenge against Starmer.
National Trends
Using indices of multiple deprivation for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland—benchmarks compiled from data on employment, education, health, crime and other metrics—the thinktank found that London and Liverpool also made significant contributions to reducing deprivation. Across the UK, the share of inner-city neighbourhoods in the 20% most deprived places fell by seven percentage points, from 38% to 31%.
Andrew Carter, chief executive of the Centre for Cities, said the government needed to "back metro mayors" because the report showed big cities with devolved powers had outperformed smaller cities and towns. He added: "Government needs to continue to back mayors to deliver and ensure their plans for fiscal devolution reward metro mayors for the steps they take to boost local growth."
Regional Variations
However, deprivation rates rose in some areas. Seven out of the ten cities and towns with the largest increases in deprivation across their whole urban area were in the north and Midlands, including Derby and Sunderland. For inner-city Manchester, 58.4% of neighbourhoods ranked among the most deprived in 2025, down from 75.7% in 2010.
Burnham is standing in the Makerfield byelection, one of the furthest Greater Manchester constituencies from the city centre, on the western fringes of the combined authority in the borough of Wigan.
