Second city of the United Kingdom

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Identifying the second city of the United Kingdom is a subject of some disagreement.

A country's second city is the city that is thought to be the second-most important, usually after the capital or first city (London, in this case), according to some criteria such as population size, economic or commercial importance, political importance or some cultural sense. There is no official mechanism by which second city status is conferred on a city, rather, it is a description which is unofficial carrying no authority, and arguments often take place between citizens and civic leaders of rival cities making conflicting claims.

While Birmingham has generally been described as the second city of the United Kingdom since around the First World War,^[1] some recent polls about the second city concluded with Manchester receiving the most votes for both second city and third city.

Other cities, including some in Scotland and Ireland, such as Glasgow and Dublin, and others in England, have also at times been considered to be the second city, either historically or due to their economic importance.

Contents 1 History 2 Second city of England 3 Other candidates for the title 4 Birmingham or Manchester? 4.1 City boundaries 4.2 Local government 4.3 Polls and media references 4.4 Ministerial opinion 5 Cultural factors 6 Second city of the Empire 7 References

[edit] History

Since the formation of the UK, several places have been described as the "second city".

Dublin was the second most populous city at the time of the formation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1801, though it lost that position later in the 19th century as other cities grew through industrialisation.^[2] As such, it was often described as the second city of the UK.^[3] Dublin, and the rest of the Republic of Ireland, ceased to be a part of the UK in the 1920s.

By the early nineteenth century, Glasgow was frequently named as the second city.^[4] Occasional claims were made for Liverpool,^[5] Birmingham^[6] and Manchester.^[7]

[edit] Second city of England

Prior to the formation of the United Kingdom in 1707, from the English Civil War until the 18th century Norwich was the second city of England, being a major trading centre, Britain's richest provincial city and county town of Norfolk, at that time the most populous county of England.^[8]

Bristol was the second wealthiest city in England in the sixteenth century,^[9] and by the eighteenth century, Bristol was often described as the second city of England.^[10] During the nineteenth century, claims were made for Manchester^[11], Liverpool^[12] and York.^[13] York had also been named as the second city in earlier centuries.^[14]

[edit] Other candidates for the title

Edinburgh also has a claim on the title of "second city"^[15] by virtue of its status as the capital city of Scotland. In addition, it was until recently the second busiest tourist destination after London,^[16] and since devolution has become the most important city after London in governmental terms, housing the Scottish Parliament. It is a growing financial centre^[17] and houses, amongst other financial and insurance companies, Royal Bank of Scotland and HBOS, two of the UK's big five banks. Edinburgh is also home to the world's largest arts festival every August; is the only British city to have hosted the Commonwealth Games twice (1970 & 1986); and has in recent years been the main alternative in the UK to London for hosting major political summits, having seen visits from the EU heads of Government, G8 heads of government, and the Commonwealth heads of government. In Channel 4's Location Location Location 'best places to live 2007', Edinburgh was selected as the best place to live in the UK.

[edit] Birmingham or Manchester?

[edit] City boundaries

Based on population within official city boundaries the City of Birmingham, the most populous local government district in the UK, is substantially larger than the City of Manchester, which is the ninth largest in the UK (see List of United Kingdom cities by population). However, most sources do not use formal city boundaries as the sole criterion for population comparison; for instance, the City of London, with a population of only 7,185 (2001 census), is very small, though London as a whole is the most populous city within city limits in the European Union^[18] with an official population of 7.6 million (as of 2006) and has a metropolitan area population of between 12 and 14 million people.^[19][20]

The surrounding conurbations and the areas that can be considered informally part of each city are hard to define. However after the 1974 re-organisation of local government and the creation of metropolitan counties, the City of Birmingham was included with the City of Coventry and five other metropolitan boroughs (one, Wolverhampton gained city status in 2000) into a new West Midlands county. The City of Manchester joined with the neighbouring City of Salford and eight other mMetropolitan boroughs within the County of Greater Manchester.

The City of Birmingham has a population of 1,001,200 (2005 estimate). It forms part of the larger West Midlands conurbation, which has a population of 2,284,093 (2001 census) and also includes the city of Wolverhampton, the towns of the Black Country, and other towns such as Solihull. The City of Manchester has a population of 441,200 (2005 estimate), while the Greater Manchester Urban Area is home to 2,240,230 people (2001 census) and also includes the city of Salford, and towns like Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, and Stockport. The population of Metropolitan counties such as the West Midlands and Greater Manchester also vary slightly from both the urban areas and other population statistics criteria like the Travel to Work Area.

[edit] Local government

Birmingham City Council (BCC) is the largest local authority in Europe and is notable for having the largest wards by population in the whole of the UK (each ward has approximately 18,000 voters). BCC is also the UK's largest landlord, with the BCC Housing Department managing over 70,000 council homes.^[21], though it often performs poorly and was only awarded a 2 star rating^[22] in the Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA) of the Audit Commission, with housing repair rated poor^[23], whereas Manchester City Council (MCC) received 3 stars in the same audit, with mostly good service^[24].

[edit] Polls and media references

As mentioned above, Birmingham is historically the second city of the United Kingdom, but two recent polls have concluded with Manchester receiving the most votes.

In a recent survey commissioned by the BBC^[25] investigating the subject of the "'Second city' of England", 48% of 1,000 people claimed that Manchester deserves the distinction with 40% choosing Birmingham. The BBC further report that Manchester is close to being the second city of the UK.^[26]

In a similar survey conducted by Ipsos MORI North (based in Manchester), commissioned by "Destination Manchester" (Manchester City's PR and Tourism department,^[27]) Manchester had the highest response for the third city as well as the second city. Interestingly only 85% of respondents put London as first City.^[28]

Manchester, however, is both reported by international news media as the UK's second city,^[29][30][31] and alternatively as the UK's third city.^[32] Whereas Birmingham is almost always reported as the UK's second city in similar international news media.^{[33][34][35][36]}

[edit] Ministerial opinion

There has been a variety of Ministerial opinion on the subject for some time, opinions include:

• David Miliband the current Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and Member of Parliament for the constituency of South Shields, Tyne and Wear "However, if you look at Birmingham, I think a lot of people would say that it's a city, Britain's second city..." ^[37]

• Sir Digby Jones (born and raised in Birmingham), Minister of State at the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform and the Foreign Office (former Director-General of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) said "Birmingham is naturally the second most important city in Britain after London because of where she is and how important she is as part of that crossroads,".^[38]

• John Prescott (born in Wales and raised in Merseyside), former Deputy Prime Minister and current Member of Parliament for the constituency of Hull East was also quoted as saying "Manchester - our second city", but this was later played down by his department, claiming they were made in a "light-hearted context".^[39]

• Graham Stringer (born, raised and currently representing Manchester), MP for Manchester Blackley responded with "Manchester has always been the second city after the capital, in many ways it is the first. Birmingham has never really been in the competition."^[39]

• Sandra White (born, raised and representing Glasgow) a Scottish National Party MSP for Glasgow, claimed "Glasgow was always seen as the second city in the Empire, and Glasgow is still the second British city. Manchester is probably the second city in England after London."^[39]

• Phil Woolas (born in Burnley, living in Lees and representing the constituency of Oldham East and Saddleworth), Minister of State for the Environment - "And, of course, I, and colleagues in Manchester, am pleased to see its very sensible plans to relocate to Manchester - Britain's third city."^[40]

[edit] Cultural factors

It is perhaps even more difficult to make a distinction based on cultural factors, as all major UK cities play an important role in the cultural make-up of the country: in addition to Birmingham and Manchester, Liverpool (European Capital of Culture for 2008), Leeds, Sheffield, Newcastle and others all boast internationally recognised sporting, music and performing arts scenes. In Scotland, meanwhile, Edinburgh has played host to the world's largest arts festival for 60 consecutive years, and Glasgow, 1990's European Capital of Culture, and numerous other festivals including Celtic Connections music festival makes it an important centre for culture also.

[edit] Second city of the Empire

The title Second city of Empire or Second city of the British Empire has been claimed by a number of cities with respect to their status in the British Empire in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries. These include Dublin,^[41] Glasgow (which continues to use the title as a marketing slogan)^[42] Liverpool,^[43] and (outside the UK) Kolkata (known as Calcutta through the British Empire)^[44] and Philadelphia.^[45]

[edit] References