Andy Burnham has appointed a new Cabinet and one thing stands out. Whereas previous governments may have been dominated by Londoners, this one is dominated by people from the north of England. In fact, one analysis found there are seven Cabinet Ministers from the North West – where Mr Burnham has his own Greater Manchester constituency – four from Yorkshire and two from the North East. But just two from London.
It’s in keeping with Mr Burnham’s promise to devolve power out of London and into the regions. And many people will say it’s only right that the rest of the country gets a say, after London dominated politics for so long. But the approach also has huge dangers for Mr Burnham.
For one thing, London is a Labour stronghold with 58 Labour MPs. That means he can’t afford to ignore it, or let Londoners feel they are not being represented. There are 63 Labour MPs in the north west too, and he can’t ignore those either. But the capital is in danger of feeling neglected.
He also risks a backlash from Labour colleagues if they start to believe that their chances of promotion have been dashed because their constituency is in the wrong part of the country.
And there is a danger voters in the south will start to feel they are being denied funding and attention.
It also remains to be seen how voters in regions such as the East Midlands (1 cabinet minister) feel about it. They don’t feel any particular loyalty to Manchester – why would they?
Mr Burnham’s devolution policy is interesting but it risks dividing the country.