Andy Burnham is not giving much away as to what a government led by him would look like. Given that it seems unlikely there will be a leadership election, we are probably not going to find out very much before he takes office, either. But there is one way to shed light on the matter.

East Germany has a similar socio-economic structure to that of northern England, where a few large cities are doing very well

East Germany has a similar socio-economic structure to that of northern England, where a few large cities are doing very well

Two years ago, Burnham published, jointly written with Liverpool mayor Steve Rotheram, a manifesto entitled Head North: A Rallying Cry for a More Equal Britain. Anyone who lives in the South East of England might want to look away now. It lays bare Burnham’s plan for regional redistribution of wealth on a grand scale.

“To ensure a perception of fairness, and build a sense of unity between the two halves which had spent fifty years apart, Germany decided to add a Basic Law – or Grundgesetz – to its written constitution. The Basic Law stipulates that there must be ‘equivalent living standards’ between all of the German lander. To achieve this,........

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