Manchester election tests British leader’s plan to give more power to cities

In Rochdale, a former factory town huddled to the north of Manchester, tolerance for politicians is low. Even in a place that is heading to the polls to replace the area’s former mayor – now Britain’s new prime minister, Andy Burnham – many passersby simply walk away.“All they’re doing is chatting rubbish,” one resident, Stephen Richards, says. He is one of the few shoppers in Rochdale’s town center who says he will be voting in Greater Manchester’s mayoral election Thursday, but declines to say for whom.One political idea does seem to be getting some traction here, though. Many people say they support the new prime minister’s flagship policy – to give more power to different parts of England, like Greater Manchester, and take some of the focus away from London. Why We Wrote This Britain’s new prime minister wants to restore faith in democracy by giving greater power to English regions away from London. An election for mayor of Greater Manchester this week could give an early indication of the plan’s popularity. This idea of devolution is Andy Burnham’s way of trying to restore people’s faith in democracy. It was one of his central campaign pledges. Speaking during his bid to become prime minister, he said, “We will bring about the biggest rebalancing of power our country has seen.”“It is time for Whitehall to accept that growth cannot be ordered from the top down,” he added. “Instead, it can only be nurtured from the bottom up.”That vision toward trust-building, inspired during his stint as mayor of Greater Manchester, is one of the most pressing challenges he faces. He is the seventh British prime minister in just 10 years.The plan would give city officials across England sweeping new powers, including over areas such as housing, education, and personal care services for children and adults. Such ideas were introduced to Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland by Tony Blair’s Labour government in 1999. Already, the new prime minister has set up a “No. 10 North” in Manchester – an equivalent of his office in London – and plans to work there one day a week.The pledge taps into longstanding grievances against a British government that remains strongly centered in London, leaving some voters feeling overlooked and left behind.Britain’s government is far more centralized than many of its European counterparts, says Andy Westwood, incoming professor of politics and public policy at The University of Birmingham.“If you compare the level of resources and power that mayors in England have with countries like the U.S., they’re still quite small-scale,” he says. It’s a mix that has created a lingering sense of injustice and anger, especially in communities that have struggled for decades to bounce back from Britain’s deindustrialization.While Mr. Burnham hopes that greater local power will help areas overcome such regional gaps, ensuring that disenfranchised voters feel truly heard is a greater challenge – especially in places like Rochdale that are hungry for change. British Prime Minister Andy Burnham walks for his first Cabinet meeting, in London, July 21, 2026. This is a traditional Labour-supporting area, but here, as in many places across the country, voters are turning to the right-wing populist party, Reform UK, in greater numbers. Labour still controls Rochdale Borough Council after May’s local elections, but Reform significantly cut its majority. Mr. Burnham sees devolution as one way to try to stop that trend.Retiree Jenny Edge is among those in Rochdale’s town center to cautiously welcome the proposals. She describes her own situation as “fairly OK” but says she sees others around her struggle. “I think it’s worth giving it a go at this stage,” she says. “Nothing else has helped.” People walk outside Heron House, the temporary base for No. 10 North, a proposed Manchester hub for part of British Prime Minister Andy Burnham's plans to expand the government's presence outside London, on the day Mr. Burnham officially opens the office, in Manchester, England, July 24, 2026. The heart of Rochdale is dominated by the town’s Riverside project, a self-described retail and leisure destination with a cinema, restaurants, and shops. One of the town’s flagship renovation projects, the £80 million ($106 million) development is noticeably busier than many of the surrounding streets.But signs that Rochdale is still struggling are easy to find. The city’s market, a five-minute walk from the Riverside project, is occupied by a handful of solitary traders. A local food bank has taken up residence in an empty shop unit nearby. A further five-minutes’ walk, and a line can be seen outside the building that houses a charity project, Soup Kitchen Rochdale.Rochdale resident Alex Rhodes describes the Riverside project as “beautiful. “But you step away from that, and I think there could be a lot more done,” he says.For areas such as Rochdale to truly benefit from devolution, local governments will need to invest across large urban areas in a wide range of sectors, says Mr. Westwood.But, he says, even if local mayoral offices were granted these powers tomorrow, most would struggle to take on the challenge.“A conscious part of any reform agenda has got to be building capacity,” he says. “The Department for Education employs thousands of people to [manage education and training]; it has a lot of accumulated expertise that just doesn’t exist at the local level.”Even with Mr. Burnham’s political will, it will take years for regional mayors to even begin to untangle the problems that national governments have failed to solve. In the meantime, he and his officials will hope that a willingness to change is enough to help England’s disenfranchised voters finally feel valued.