The prospect of greater regional and city devolution raises the spectre of the “Manchester Withington question”

The Government’s plans for a “Northern Powerhouse” and the associated moves towards greater policy autonomy for Greater Manchester are combining to create a potential situation where MPs in Manchester and areas which may also in future enjoy similar powers can vote on matters which don’t effect their constituents. This, argue Andy Mycock and Arianna Giovannini represents the advent of the “Manchester Withington Question” – a deliberate echo of the “West Lothian Question”, which the government’s new English Votes for English Laws reform seeks to answer.