Burnham's analysis is right – but Manchesterism must also be applied beyond UK borders
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4 min read
As a fellow Scouse Catholic (and Evertonian too) the social structures that shaped Burnham’s "Manchesterism” shaped my path into international development.
The PM is right to set about fixing failing UK systems, but his analysis shouldn’t stop at our country’s shores. Broken financial and food systems that generate cost of living crises, a changing climate, and centralised power are not just creating UK domestic issues, but global ones too.
Catholic social teaching offers a strong framework to address such problems. From the defence of workers' rights (Rerum Novarum, 1891), to Pope Francis' call for action on the interlinked “cry of the earth and the cry of the poor” (Laudato Si', 2015), and Pope Leo’s centring of humanity in an era of AI (Magnifica Humanitas, 2026), the Church's social tradition consistently points towards dignity, solidarity and the common good, and this is visible in the PM’s domestic policy ideas.
For organisations working to support the world’s poorest communities, the sort of analysis that Burnham presents has been alive for years.
Manchesterism – rooted in the Catholic social teaching principle of subsidiarity, that decisions should be made as locally as possible – has a different name in the development sector, “localisation.” For over a decade working at Cafod, I’ve seen firsthand the positive impact of our work around the world, through local actors. Being on the front line, they’re best placed in serving the communities they are part of, but broken global structures mean they are often left out of decision making; poorly supported in tackling risks, not least in security; and frozen out of difficult to access funding opportunities.
Similarly, Burnham has targeted Westminster and Whitehall systems that aren’t delivering for local communities, and the same is true internationally. A new global debt crisis sees many low- and middle-income countries trapped in cyclical debt to private lenders who make eye watering profits, but are not required to take part in fair debt renegotiation on similar terms to bilateral lenders such as the UK government. Restrictive World Bank loan conditionalities can mean local farmers can’t keep or trade their choice of seeds – those they know are best for production and the environment. Illicit flows of gold in Brazil and Sudan are respectively causing environmental destruction and fuelling conflict. And climate change – setting record UK temperatures this summer and straining public services – is causing death, displacement and destruction of crops around the world.
Yet, within these challenges lie great opportunities.
With 90 per cent of developing country loans from private lenders governed by English law, the UK could legislate to ensure banks and hedge funds partake in debt relief, freeing up billions for developing nations to spend on education, healthcare and tackling the climate crisis. When hosting the G20 next year, our government can take the lead in advocating for better systems to deal with global debt and illicit financial flows. As UK governor at the World Bank, Ed Miliband could advocate to end conditionalities that punish the world’s poorest citizens. Stronger taxation of polluters could provide funding for communities in the UK and beyond, who have lost lives, homes and livelihoods to flooding, fires and droughts.
The government must ensure it genuinely partners and empowers local actors, as it has pledged, building on the positive advances made by Foreign Office colleagues to date. There must be structural changes to broken funding systems, better support in sharing risks, and empowerment of local voices at all levels of decision making. The UK public show favour to such partnership.
The Burnham administration’s vision to put “hope in every heart” can reach across the UK and beyond, and in a reduced aid era this is crucial. Tackling broken global systems will benefit communities at home and around the world, and can be done with little to no cost for the UK taxpayer. Burnham’s roadmap, infused with Catholic social teaching, has the principles to pull us through the collective challenges we face, together. His application can be “catholic” with a small ‘c’, in other words “universal.” Manchesterism is only truly Manchesterism if it also supports communities beyond borders.
Tom Delamere is senior government relations adviser at Cafod, the official overseas aid agency for the Catholic Church in England and Wales
