<P> The second city of the United Kingdom is an unofficial claim made at various times by several cities since the establishment of the UK in 1707 . Commonly a country's second city is the city that is thought to be the second-most important, usually after the capital or first city according to criteria such as population size, economic importance and cultural contribution . </P> <P> Historically several cities have been considered the "second city of the British Empire". In the early 19th Century, Dublin was considered by many to be the second city; later in the century, Glasgow and Liverpool burgeoned as major industrial centres and had competing claims to be the busiest ports in the world for ship building and freight transport . Calcutta also laid the claim from as far away as India as the most populous city, while in 1911 the editor of the Irish Times laid a second claim for Dublin during a ceremonial visit by George V . </P> <P> Birmingham has generally been regarded as the second city of the United Kingdom in terms of populace and GDP while Edinburgh has been promoted as the second city by virtue as the capital of Scotland . Less authoratitive claims have been made on behalf of Cardiff and Belfast due to their status as the respective capital cities of Wales and Northern Ireland . Furthermore, a number of opinion polls have been conducted since 2000 and complicate the issue further, with public response showing a consistent view amongst the British population that Manchester is the second city . It should be noted that Birmingham is technically the United Kingdom's most populous city; the City of London has fewer than 10,000 inhabitants, and Greater London is not recognized as a city . </P> <P> Since the formation of the United Kingdom, several places have been described as the "second city". Aristocrat - dominated Georgian Dublin was the second-most populous city at the time of the formation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1801 (it was also the fifth-most populous in Europe), and was often described as the second city of the UK . Though it lost that position towards the end of the 19th century as the empire's Victorian cities grew through more rapid industrialisation . Dublin, and the rest of the Republic of Ireland, became independent of the UK in the 1920s . </P>

Is birmingham the 2nd largest city in uk