I cannot comment on how Manchester dealt with snow this time around, but can offer my opinions based on other airfields around the country.
I have dealt with snow this year, and, it caused the airfield I work at to close for several hours. The reason, not enough equipment to deal with the snow fall. For some this is not acceptable - would the increased landing fares to pay for the extra kit be more acceptable? - Didn't think so.
In the UK snow fall happens rarely, and if it does is very rarely a major problem. Therefore a very difficult obstacle to deal with if ti does happen in vast quantities. If you are a pilot type, liken it to the time that you have an engine failure on take off - It is an Unusual circumstance, for which you are trained, but, you will never deal with it perfectly, but will do your damn best to deal with it safely, the same as airfields do when dealing with snow.
The airfield I work at are aware of this, and are planning on next autumn holding an "all weather" meeting in order that we can get the procedures down to an absolute 't' and if we cannot prevent disruption, at least we all know / can proove we did our damn best.