We’ve been hearing a lot about how “Manchesterism”, a political model built on local leadership and regional empowerment, will be applied to the rest of the country once Andy Burnham steps inside Number 10.

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The incoming Prime Minister has put deeper devolution front and centre of his policy agenda, promising the “biggest rebalancing of power our country has ever seen”.

Given that the UK has huge regional inequalities and is the most fiscally centralised country in the G7, his instincts to rip up the political system feel like the right diagnosis. But genuine fiscal devolution will be required to realise its benefits everywhere.

The Greater Manchester model has genuine achievements behind it since the combined authority was established in 2011, devolving powers on issues such as transport, skills, employment support, planning and regeneration, policing and fire services.

Burnham, the first directly elected mayor in 2015, has described Manchesterism as a “place-first........

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