The Department for Culture, Media and Sport should follow the BBC and move north to Manchester, the UK Independence party is set to argue, as it fights to win its first parliamentary seat in a byelection in the city next week.

The announcement will be made on Tuesday by John Bickley, Ukip's candidate in Wythenshawe and Sale East, at the launch of the party's Manifesto for Manchester, which outlines economic and employment aims for the city.

Home to two world class football teams and with the BBC in neighbouring Salford, Manchester is the perfect location for a select devolution of central government powers, the party believes.

Although Ukip currently has no MPs and is unlikely to find itself in power any time soon, the party has a track record of dictating the national debate, said a Ukip source: "It was always assumed David Cameron would never have a referendum on EU membership, but now he's said there will be one in 2017. Ukip has now reached the point where we can put pressure on the other parties to act on our proposals."

The proposal put Labour on the backfoot in what is a relatively safe seat – the incumbent, Paul Goggins, who died last month, had a majority of 7,575 in 2010.

Labour's candidate, local councillor Mike Kane, declined to comment on Ukip's idea. A party spokesman said: "We wouldn't be able to comment until we've seen Ukip's proposals in full."

But Sir Richard Leese, leader of the Labour-run Manchester council, did not condemn the idea, saying in an email: "By the time the Tory/Lib Dem coalition have finished there won't be much left of DCMS to move anywhere."

He added: "Since the coalition came into power, the percentage of London-based civil servants has increased and a more serious suggestion would be to go back to Labour's plans to relocate thousands of civil servants to Manchester," he said. "In 2009, the Labour government proposed a 'super-campus' of 5,000 civil servants on the site of Manchester's old Mayfield station."

Ukip said it expected the move to create 700 jobs for the area and that a very small secretariat of no more then 10 people would remain in London to help ministers with their House of Commons duties.

"Manchester has established itself as a world class centre for excellence in the fields of culture, media and sport. The city and neighbouring local authority areas boast England's two leading football clubs, a huge new BBC facility and an unparalleled track record in pop music and other aspects of popular culture," said a Ukip spokesperson.

"All this has happened in spite of the London-based political establishment and not because of it. Ukip proposes to change this – ensuring that government actively helps Manchester make even greater strides that can see it become Europe's leading centre for culture, media and sport.

In the 2010 general election, Ukip came in fifth place in Wythenshawe and Sale, polling 1,405 votes. Bickley, an entrepreneur who grew up on the notorious Wythenshawe housing estate, insists he is out to win on 13 February, despite Ukip sources telling the Guardian the party is confident of a "strong" second place.

He said: "We need to push certain functions away from London to places where they will perform just as well and potentially better ... We're making the political weather in a number of areas even when we're not in government.

"London has tended to soak up a disproportionate part of growth and GDP, and most of the population lives outside of London ... We've got to make sure that the UK grows in a way that doesn't result in all roads leading to London."

Attempts to move government departments out of London are not new. In January 2012, a private member's bill to relocate the DCMS to Manchester, sponsored by the Labour MP for the Nottinghamshire seat of Bassetlaw, John Mann, was defeated at first reading.

Mann has poured scorn on Ukip copying his idea, saying in an email: "Two years ago, in January 2012, I tabled eight presentation bills in parliament, which sought to relocate the headquarters of eight government departments to cities outside of London. One of my proposals was to move the Department of Culture, Media and Sport to Manchester. Bizarrely, Ukip has now adopted this proposal.

"Ukip has 'launched' my proposal as its own in a desperate attempt to convince voters in the north that they can be trusted.

"I would take any claims from Ukip that they want to support growth in the north with a pinch of salt. Last year, Nigel Farage claimed that he was the only politician 'keeping Thatcherism alive' – I think we have certainly had enough of Thatcherism in the North."

Only last week, Graham Stringer, the Labour MP for Blackley and Broughton in Manchester, suggested that parliament should be moved to the city, saying that the Palace of Westminster was in such a state of dilapidation that it would need to be replaced in 10 years. He pointed out that other countries, such as Australia, have located their governments outside the biggest city.