All Names Taken,
I'm not sure it is the way of the world, it maybe true of the UK and France but pretty much every other major country in the world is less centred on 1 city. Take the US or Germany, neither country could be accused of being Washington or Berlin centric, public transport funding in Germany is spread out evenly based on population, here in the UK 80% gets spent in the South East the rest is handed out when and where the South East decides.
Not sure if the countries with one dominant capital city is limited to France and the UK. Would say that most of Europe falls into this category: Ireland, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, the Scandinavian and Baltic countries and most of Central Europe, etc.. Germany is very much the exception mainly because of recent history. It’s also much the same in most of Asia, Africa and the Americas, most of the rest of the world in fact.
Personally, if regions outside London and the South East (and I don't just mean Manchester and the North West) just accept the situation with a 'can't do anything about it' mentality, I fear the North South divide will just get wider be it in terms of infrastructure spending, wealth, jobs or inward tourism. I admit London is very effective at promoting itself with the tools at its disposal, and it's up to the regions to do likewise and kick up a fuss when necessary. Sadly, many MPs in our own area appear happy to accept the status quo. Whether devoManc will make any difference, who knows.
Devo Manc will make
no difference, but will dump on Mancunians (if the Greater London pattern is followed) the eye-watering expense of a directly-elected mayor, several unelected "deputy mayors", all on six-figure salaries of course, plus a huge bureaucracy of highly paid functionaries, etc, etc., all paid for by the council tax precept.
Be very careful what you wish for.
All this despite Manchester citizens voting
against a directly-elected mayor a couple of years ago, but this doesn’t stop them having one imposed (as part of devo Manc).
Shades of the European Union here,
n’est-ce pas!