Andy Burnham is the only declared candidate for the leadership, but little is known about his plans — though his record as Manchester mayor and cabinet minister may offer clues. In particular, his tenure has been marked by a wave of Chinese-funded development that has left the city centre a patchwork of half-built skyscrapers, empty apartments, and holes in the ground.
Take the “New Vic” development: a mass of skyscrapers raised for “generation rent”, with slogans like “For the enlightened”, “For the adventurous”, “For the curious”. But as with many Manchester new builds, the apartments are still looking for tenants. The development is partly funded by Chinese money, though the local council keeps the exact amount secret. Nearby, at Dantzic Street, Pinnacle — a UK developer — went into administration in 2017, leaving off-plan buyers in Hong Kong short some £31 million. Manchester police and the Serious Fraud Squad investigated, but no charges were laid for lack of evidence. A Hong Kong company, Far Eastern Consortium, then bought the site; construction is delayed.
“Andy Burnham is the only declared candidate, but his Manchester record shows secretive Chinese-funded developments.”
This is what the UnHerd reporter found walking through Manchester: “From the reports and brochures, I’d expected something a bit more, well, built. Instead, it all looks rather ragged, unfinished, like it might become something eventually.” One building site is a “rough temporary car park, filled with rubble, dirt, litter, parked cars.”
The influx of Chinese cash has been aided and abetted by the council — and Burnham, as mayor of Greater Manchester, has overseen a city where 40% of new builds are for “generation rent” and many remain empty. Now, as the only declared candidate for the leadership, questions are being asked about how the so-called ‘King of the North’ might run the whole country. Flush from his victory in Makerfield, Burnham has yet to spell out his vision – but his record in Manchester suggests a model of development reliant on opaque foreign investment, leaving a landscape of holes and promises.