Head North unpicks many of the reasons for the challenges we face in the North of England and suggests solutions.
It is also a slightly unusual book, in that it has two authors: the elected mayor of the Liverpool City Region, Steve Rotheram and the elected mayor of the Greater Manchester City Region, Andy Burnham.
Biographical section
The book is in two parts.
Firstly, there is a biographical part, where Burnham and Rotheram tell the reader something of their lives and how they have formed the views that they have today.
There is a particular emphasis on the Hillsborough Disaster of 15th April 1989 and their involvement. Rotheram was there, at the FA Cup semi-final in Sheffield that day, while Burnham was at Villa Park watching Everton. It was Rotheram, as Lord Mayor of Liverpool at the time, who got Burnham, as Secretary of State for Media, Culture and Sport at the time, to speak at 20th anniversary at Anfield in 2009, which was one of the main turning points in the campaign by the Hillsborough Families to gain justice.
As well as covering Hillsborough, the two authors, discuss other times in their lives both inside and outside politics, where they have seen injustices towards the North.
These include injustices during the Covid-19 pandemic and other ways the Northwest and the North have been let down by Westminster.
They also describe how their political life often consisted of having to overcome obstructions, put in place by the Westminster system, repeatedly.
They discuss why and how they both became disillusioned with the Westminster System and decided to head back to their native Northwest to take on their current roles with the Liverpool and Greater Manchester City Regions.
What is wrong with our political system
While most of the book is written by one or other of the authors, in some parts of the book Burnham and Rotheram have written joint sections.
There is one particularly important section at the beginning of the second part of the book that states: “If anything brought us both into a life of politics, it was our desire to see our part of the world and its people receive equal treatment with the rest of the UK.
“If we have learnt anything from our journeys so far, it is this; our goal is not achievable as long as our current political system remains in place.
“To be honest, though, it’s not just the North West which is being held back from achieving its potential.
“The same applies to every other part of the UK outside London and the Southeast. For proof of that, look no further than the wide disparity of transport infrastructure.
“The North-South divide is no historical accident. It is in fact the product of long-term national policy. It is only when there is clarity about this stark truth that everything else starts to fall into place.
“Look closely at the British Parliament today. You can still clearly see the influence of the feudal society from which it evolved. Wealthy families granted large land interests in centuries past are still making laws in your unelected House of Lords.”
The Green Book and other funding issues
One crucial point the book makes is about the importance of the Green Book.
This is basically a book of rules held in the Treasury, which determine what funding investment by the government should be permitted and what should be blocked. It is driven by short-term thinking and short-term financial gain.
The idea is that investment goes where there will be what is seen as the best return for the country. As the London and Southeast area is the fastest growing region economically, this means that investment is concentrated there, so the Green Book reinforces that trend at the expense of other regions.
As Burnham puts it: “in 2020, the Treasury’s own review of the Green Book, found that it failed to support the idea of ‘levelling up’ the regions. It concluded that this was because the process ‘relied too heavily on cost-benefit analysis’.
“It said BCR placed too much weight on benefits that could ‘easily be assigned monetary value, with insufficient weight given to whether the proposed project addressed strategic policy priorities’. Even they knew it needed to change but, subsequently, nothing has happened.”
The Barnett Formula
The authors also highlight something that is been commented on for years in The Northeast, the unfairness of the Barnett Formula.
This formula which dates to 1978, sees a higher amount of spending per head for public services, given to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland on the basis that in the late 1970’s they were seen as poorer than England. However, there are English regions including the Northeast, which are at least as deprived as the Celtic nations, yet the Barnett Formula does not reflect this.
In response to this, Burnham says: “What we need is a new formula covering the whole of the UK and including the English regions as separate entities. If London were to get investment, there would be consequential investment for everywhere else.”
The ten plans
In response to what they see as an unfair political system in this country, the authors have come up with ten plans.
Written constitution and basic law
Firstly, they call for a written constitution to deliver fairer government and prevent powerful, vested interests taking advantage of the current arrangements.
Secondly, they suggest there should be a Basic Law, which would overcome the injustices set in stone by the continued use of the Green Book and instead see fair investment across the nations and regions of the UK.
The whip system and fairer voting
They also call for the removal of the whip system, so that MPs can truly represent their constituents and especially the poorer and more marginalised among them.
They also demand proportional representation to make the voting system fairer. On this issue Burnham states: “In my view, 140 years of the first-past-the-post system cannot be said to have anything to reduce regional inequalities “. Rotheram likes the constituency link and so as a compromise, Burnham supports the List system as in Scottish elections, so keeping the constituency link.
Devolution and the House of Lords
There is also a call for further and more flexible devolution, which will be appropriate to each nation and region of the UK and meet the needs of the people living there.
They support scrapping of the House of Lords and its replacement by a Senate of the Nations and Regions. As is pointed out, currently, 55% of members of the Lords live in just three regions: London, Southeast England, and East England.
Post-14 education
There is also a call for two equal paths in education post-14, with a serious and aspirational technical path to go alongside the academic and university path, so providing a worthwhile education for all, as opposed to the broken and discredited system we have at present. Instead, young people could see a route into the local economy and their aspirations could be raised accordingly. This kind of plan for the Northeast would be a vital link in helping our young people to gear up for the challenges of the renewable energy transition which lies ahead.
Grenfell and Hillsborough Law
The authors also suggest that there should be what they call a Grenfell Law, so that disasters like the Grenfell Fire won’t be repeated and that there is proper regulation of the housing market, including measures such as a good landlords charter, like the newly introduced Greater Manchester Good Landlords Charter.
Similarly, they call for a Hillsborough Law, so that victims of historic injustices, such as the Hillsborough Families can get fair legal redress a lot quicker.
Net Zero
Finally, in perhaps the most important plan of all, the authors call for Net Zero to a New Economy, which could be, as Burnham puts it, “a journey which gives people across the English regions higher-quality and lower-cost public transport; modern homes that are cheaper to rent and cheaper to run: and a plentiful source of highly skilled, secure jobs. To put it another way, we are looking at the best chance we will ever have to reindustrialise the North of England, reduce inequality and close the North-South divide.”
Head North
While the main geographical emphasis in the book is understandably on the Northwest and particularly along the Liverpool-Manchester axis, this is still a book, whose arguments will be attractive to many people in our region.
Many of the stories and arguments will resonate with people in the Northeast, while the ten-point plan is a useful starting point for the whole of the North, as we endeavour to make our country fairer and get a better deal for all our people.
