Map of built up areas around Liverpool and Manchester

Manpool, or sometimes Liverchester, is the name used in the British press to describe a proposed merging of the North Western English cities of Manchester and Liverpool to create a Metropolis or power city to balance the economic size and scale of London in the South East of England. Both terms are a portmanteau formed from the names of the two cities.

Background

Liverpool

Manchester

Locations of the cities, in England

The cities of Liverpool and Manchester are some 35 miles (56 km) apart in North West England, with the town of Warrington in between. However, due to economic and demographic growth, and the associated urban sprawl, the urban conurbation around both cities (especially that of Greater Manchester) has expanded and closed the gap between the two cities over time. Additional long-term plans to expand the area around Warrington will further merge these urban areas.^[1]

The Greater London metropolis meanwhile covers an area of over 606 sq miles, and is 45 miles (72 km) in length. It merges the two cities of London and Westminster, as well as many other surrounding towns and settlements across 33 separate boroughs in the South East of England. London is often regarded as a power city and its size and economic scale makes the UK one of the most centralised countries in the world.^[2][3]

Successive governments have recognised this trend towards centralisation and begun to implement policies to try and balance this, such as proposed regional assemblies, metro mayors, cultural showcases, 'Levelling up', the Northern Powerhouse and numerous others.

Proposals

Proposals for a North Western "super city" to balance the growth of London in the South East stretch back to the start of the 21st Century. In 2004 architect and urban planner Will Alsop proposed a 15-mile (24 km) wide conurbation combining Manchester and Liverpool and other nearby Northern urban areas at Urbis, the museum of urban life in Manchester. The proposal coincided with then Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott's Sustainable Communities summit, which was also held in Manchester. Media reports at the time noted the similarities between Alsop's proposals, and the proposals in Prescott's Northern Way. Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott had previously mooted the idea of a "super city" that would extend across the North along the M62 motorway in February 2004.^[4][5]

The idea was further explored following the City Growth Commission in 2014, which made suggestions as to how many larger UK cities could be given greater powers and transformed economically. The chair of the commission, Lord O'Neill a former Goldman Sachs economist and Commercial Secretary to the Treasury first coined the term 'Manpool' as a result of the commission. Writing in The Daily Telegraph newspaper, Lord O'Neill suggested that combining the two cities into one would allow the new city to 'bottle' some of the economic successes of London by amalgamating their resources, and that "the more done to improve infrastructure and commercial links between the two cities, the more likely that aggregate benefits would accrue". Lord O'Neill suggested this should be done in a framework of greater devolved fiscal powers. Regionalism expert and journalist Brian Groom writing in the Financial Times, suggested that although the proposals were positive, "joint government between the two cities seems unrealistic". One argument put forward against the merger is the historic rivalry between the two cities, though many point out that today this is mostly good natured.^[6][7][8][9]

Some commentators have proposed that Warrington – situated between the two cities – could serve as the administrative hub.^[10] In 2022 Warrington made a bit to become a city in their own right as part of the Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II to bring them to equivalent standing with Liverpool and Manchester. The bid ultimately failed.^[11]

Progress

Though no formal government policy to combine the two cities has been publicly proposed at a senior level, deeper cooperation (such as merging aspects of infrastructure for the two cities) has become a feature of several recent government proposals, especially in the Northern Powerhouse plan, meanwhile large scale local projects have been proposed to increase the national status of the area to help it balance the relative power of London.

In 2018 the metro mayors of both cities pledged to build a new working partnership and are working on a concordat to be signed by both Combined Authorities. At a conference announcing the partnership the Metro Mayor of Liverpool, Steve Rotheram jokingly stated "We’re not going to be Liverchester or Manpool, especially the latter. But we do have to work together.”

Infrastructure has been a central area of cooperation between the two cities. Rail between the two cities was improved as part of the Northern Hub upgrades and further upgrades will take place as part of the Northern Powerhouse Rail upgrades. The High Speed 2 Phase Two upgrade meanwhile was designed to provide faster rail links from Manchester to the UK's only power city, London, before its cancellation in 2023. In 2021 Transport Secretary Grant Shapps discussed an Irish Sea Tunnel from Wales to Northern Ireland, which as part of an upgraded high speed rail line along the north Welsh coast would connect Liverpool to Dublin in much the same way London is connected to Paris via the Channel Tunnel.^[12]

Additional cooperation has taken place in the areas of Business, Sport and Energy. In 2022 Mayor Andy Burnham and Mayor Steve Rotheram took part in a joint mission to Dublin where they met with Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney. As part of the mission they agreed to further develop the partnership between Ireland and the Manchester and Liverpool city regions.^[13] Liverpool and Manchester have recently launched joint bids to host sporting events such as the Commonwealth Games.^[14] A joint Green Energy Task Force was launched between the Liverpool and Manchester to try and improve local green energy solutions for the two cities in 2022.^{[15][16][17][18]}

See also

• North–South divide in the United Kingdom
• Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
• High Speed 3
• North West England#Metropolitan areas
• UK City of Culture

References