A legacy of broken promises: What Boris Johnson's tenure meant for Greater Manchester - and where we go from here
In July 2019, just four days after taking office, Boris Johnson took to a podium at the Science and Industry Museum in the heart of Manchester to make a series of bold promises. As had been the case during a bombastic election campaign - which won over some of the region’s key 'red wall' constituencies - the pledges came thick and fast.
And yet, less than three years later, big questions remain around whether Boris Johnson’s government’s ever really put its money where his mouth was to address the blatant inequalities that exist between cities like Manchester and cities like London. Of the three dozen ‘red wall’ districts that had previously voted for Labour but helped Boris to his 2019 win, 86pc have fallen further behind London and the South East of England.
Even as his ship went down, Boris Johnson remained buoyant about his legacy, speaking to ‘getting Brexit done’, the speedy vaccine rollout, and leading the west against Putin’s aggression in Ukraine. And amid a raft of resignations which decimated his Levelling Up Department, he reflected positively on his flagship policy, describing ‘a vast programme in infrastructure and skills’.Here’s a look at Boris Johnson’s legacy from Greater Manchester’s viewpoint...
And this year, the PM was among those criticising the region's Clean Air Zone proposal to charge polluting vehicles across Greater Manchester, using his platform in the Commons to call it a 'thoughtless' plan that would have 'damaged business'. It’s unlikely Johnson could have foreseen this in 2019 as he stood before Stephenson’s Rocket and bemoaned the ‘divide between those who can afford their homes and those who cannot’. That day, he promised to ‘review everything’ - planning regulations, stamp duty, housing zones and the ‘efficacy of existing government initiatives’. He promised safer streets, more home ownership and ‘great public services’.
But the department's own data shows only 2,267 new social and affordable rental units were completed in the city between 2010/11 and 2020/21. Once labelled ‘a priority’ by Boris Johnson, it would have allowed for more hourly trains and shorter journeys on almost every key northern route. Rejected on cost grounds, passengers were instead proffered a new line from Warrington Marsden tacked on to the existing TransPennine line, which is finally being upgraded after years of delay to that programme.
Meanwhile, it’s now been eight years since Boris’ predecessors promised new platforms at Manchester Piccadilly station - a solution to the Castlefield corridor bottleneck that cripples services across the north and was largely to blame for the 2018 timetable crisis. Last month, Mr Burnham announced a plan for £2 single journey tickets and a £5 day fare. A bid to offset the cost-of-living crisis, he was candid about another motive - shoring up a public transport network struggling for cash.
Crime Johnson promised a new national policing board chaired by a ‘dynamic new home secretary’ which would hold police to account. There would be 20,000 more police officers over the next three years, and they would have greater stop and search powers. A Number 10 spokesman said there now 1,564 more doctors and 4,729 more nurses working to 'bust the Covid backlog' in the North West than in 2019, as well as four new Community Diagnostic Centres Referring to plans for Salford Royal, they referenced plans for a new major trauma hospital, currently in construction.
Education and Skills Johnson pledged to give 'every child the world class education they deserve'. But this year of the 55 education 'cold spots' identified as part of the levelling up agenda, which were to be targeted for investment, seven - Bolton, Bury, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford and Tameside - were in Greater Manchester.
Coun Craig says she does agree with the ‘premise’ of levelling up, adding: “I think there were ministers within the department who did show an understanding of what we needed to make the UK economy thrive and what Greater Manchester needed in terms of investment. I’m not sure how much of those genuinely came from the PM.
As with all legacies, it’s likely Boris Johnson’s true impact on Greater Manchester, and the country, will emerge in time. Maybe his successors will finally bring full meaning to ‘levelling up’. Perhaps, as Andy Westwood, Professor of Government Practice at the University of Manchester, told Northern Agenda editor Rob Parsons, the phrase will ‘become toxic and disappear’.
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