One in six people now think it’s a good idea to make a different city in the United Kingdom the capital instead of London - and a quarter of those people think it should be Bristol.
Support for moving the Government out of Westminster to a different place in Britain is gradually increasing, according to a YouGov poll for Times Radio this week.
Around 16 per cent of people - one in six - now firmly believe it’s a good idea that would help shift the balance away from London’s dominance of British society, politics and economics, the Manchester Evening News reports.
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The last time a similar poll was conducted by YouGov - back in 2015 when then Prime Minister David Cameron’s big policy was creating a ‘Northern Powerhouse’ - it found fewer people supported the idea of moving the capital away from London.
Now, however, support is still fairly small, but growing.
Among those who wanted a new capital, more than half backed it being Manchester. And Manchester even came out top overall among all respondents who voted in the poll, even among those who did not support changing the capital but were asked to choose an alternative if London was to be dropped as the nation’s capital. A quarter of those polled in total backed it being Manchester, followed by 19 per cent for Birmingham and 17 per cent for Edinburgh.
Of those who supported the idea of a new capital, 25 per cent of those thought it should be in Bristol.
The idea is not as fanciful as it sounds - many countries have their capital, defined as the seat of Government, not in the largest city. The Netherlands, for instance, is dominated by Amsterdam, where the Dutch royal family live, but the Government is based in the smaller city of Den Haag, while in the United States of America, the capital is in Washington DC, which is only the 20th largest city in the country.
But the calls have been blasted on social media, with many arguing the largest city by size in any country should always be the capital for administrative reasons.
One woman wrote: "Ridiculous. I was brought up near Manchester - it’s a great city. BUT there is nowhere to compare with London as a capital."
Another Facebook user posted: "Manchester is a village in respect to the Metropolis. London is never going to be outdone by any other city."
A third stated: "I don't see the point in changing the capital at all." One woman, who is from Manchester, wrote: "It’s ridiculous."
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