Manchester is the top rated city to replace London as the capital, according to a survey.
A YouGov poll for Times Radio found that one in six people - around 16 per cent - support moving the UK capital away from London. Among those who wanted a new capital, more than half backed Manchester.
Manchester came out on top overall from all respondents who voted in the poll, even among those who did not support changing the capital. 25 per cent of those polled backed the city, followed by 19 per cent for Birmingham and 17 per cent for Edinburgh.
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Of those who supported a new capital, 55 per cent voted for Manchester, 42 per cent for Liverpool, 39 per cent for Birmingham and 37 per cent for Leeds. Newcastle, Sheffield, Edinburgh, Nottingham, Bristol, Glasgow, Cardiff, Cambridge, Portsmouth and Belfast all also received votes.
The survey found that around 20 per cent of Labour 2019 voters supported the idea of changing the capital, while 21 per cent of voters were from the North of England. More men support the idea than women - 20 per cent to 12 per cent.
The figures from the survey were released as MP for Wigan Lisa Nandy spoke to The Times amid the escalating levelling-up debate. Yesterday a think-tank said 'levelling up' Greater Manchester would require 'tens of billions of pounds of investment', more graduates here working and a massive influx of extra employment in the region.
A report published by the Resolution Foundation found that differences in income were both 'significant' and 'persistent', with only traditionally poorer areas of inner London such as Hackney and Newham significantly improving their position over the last 25 years.
When asked by the Times about moving the capital city, Ms Nandy said: “Just not Wigan is my plea. I don’t want a load of lords in ermine and a load of MPs sitting in my local pub.”
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She stressed that she believed the key to turning around struggling towns could be reopening much-loved nightclubs. "Every single town has lost a nightclub that they feel very strongly about, that was part of our history and our heritage", she said.
"You know, in Wigan we had northern soul and we miss all of that greatly." She added: "Live music venues that used to sustain bands like the Verve who come from Wigan, who could gig and play around Wigan, not just have to travel into Manchester to do it, those things have disappeared in the last couple of decades.
"So there is a serious point behind this because as well as providing those opportunities for young people from every part of the country and the culture and the history and the identity that goes with it, it means that we’re reflected in the national story."
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