Who said local politics was dead?

In a 1957 essay, the historian AJP Taylor described Victorian Manchester as “the last and greatest of the Hanseatic towns – a civilisation created by traders without assistance from monarchs or territorial aristocracy.” The city had been “the symbol of a civilisation”, but was now “little more than a historical curiosity”. Mournfully, he noted: “The merchant princes have departed. They are playing at country life in Cheshire or trying to forget Manchester in Bournemouth and Torquay.”

This week, as the Labour Party gathers for its annual conference, Manchester’s princes are back in Bournemouth. But rather than forgetting their city, Manchester’s delegation of councillors and MPs are championing its success. And it is only right they do so: for politicians have been central to Manchester’s decade-long regeneration.

In the face of globalisation and multinational corporations, we are often told that politics no longer matters. In particular, after half a century of Whitehall emasculation, it is said local government holds few powers. The Manchester model has proved nonetheless what the hard grind of politics can deliver. A hands-on political leadership has provided a text-book case of post-industrial urban strategy with smart policies covering business, higher education, housing and culture. Even the recent spate of “Gunchester” headlines can’t rub the shine off Manchester’s booming, crane-and-concrete turn around.

Even the recent “Gunchester” headlines can’t rub the shine off Manchester’s booming turn around

Crucially what Manchester has enjoyed is political stability with successive Labour administrations enjoying healthy council chamber majorities. Local councillors have worked closely with the city’s MPs and, in turn, Manchester has benefited from government largesse from the Commonwealth Games through to hosting last year’s Labour Party conference. Meanwhile, the coming of the BBC to Salford will only augment the region’s commercial and cultural clout. Just as Wandsworth and Westminster worked hand-in-glove with Tory administrations during the 1980s, Manchester has become New Labour’s favourite council. And the city’s residents are the beneficiaries.

Contrast this to the recent history of Liverpool and Leeds. Under a divided Tory-Liberal Democrat administration (with each party taking turns to hold the office of leader), Leeds has lost its direction. Neither businesses nor government departments like to endorse political bodies lacking clear leadership. Meanwhile, in Liverpool the sense of purpose which the city enjoyed under council leader Mike Storey and chief executive David Henshaw has given way to a weakened Liberal Democrat council with Labour snapping at its heels. Unfortunately, these town hall divisions have affected next year’s 2008 Capital of Culture with in-fighting dogging the project.

By contrast, what Manchester proves is that even in an era of low voter turn out, maligned councillors, and reviled party leaders, politics can deliver. The challenge for cities is to get the leadership they deserve.