Can Burnham turn ‘Manchesterism’ into a practical offer for government?

A close adviser to Andy Burnham described him as an ‘organic intellectual’ whose theory comes not from books but from the practice of running Manchester. Photograph: Phil Noble/Reuters

Manchesterism is “the end of neoliberalism”. That was the claim made by Andy Burnham in his campaign launch video this week – a film which made an audacious offer not just to his byelection constituents in Makerfield, but how he intended to change national politics and the economy.

But the 2026 doctrine of Manchesterism is very different to its 19th-century namesake, when it was a byword for free trade.