Buxton International Festival announces stand-out addition to its opening weekend

Andy Burnham and Steve Rotheram, the Mayors of Greater Manchester and the Liverpool City Region respectively, discuss their new book, ‘Head North’, at Buxton Opera House on Saturday, 6 July at 12.30pm.

Head North proposes an ambitious plan to rewire and reimagine our country beyond the Westminster bubble. A timely discussion around Northern voices and culture, devolution and the failed promises of 'levelling up'.

Former Prime Minister, Gordon Brown says: “This is a path-breaking book by two dynamic leaders working to transform the North of England, and whose ideas on the future deserve all our attention.”

Victoria Dawson, Director of Books at BIF, said: "I'm delighted to be hosting Andy and Steve at Buxton. In their respective cities, they have done much to promote the cause of English devolution and worked tirelessly in the truest sense towards the goal of levelling up. Their book, Head North, is a book of ideas and personifies the billing of all our BIF book events as both entertaining and opinion forming.”

Since taking up their respective posts in 2017, Burnham and Rotheram have been vocal about the challenges of modern British politics, and the failed attempts at ‘levelling up’ by successive Tory administrations. Their new book makes a compelling argument that the ‘Westminster knows best’ decision-making approach is not working.

The Mayors share their experiences of modern British politics, from how the Hillsborough disaster shaped them and their time as MPs in Westminster witnessing its systematic flaws, to leaving to become Mayors up North, battling Boris Johnson during the Covid-19 pandemic, and creating a new vision for what Britain could be.