British Prime Minister Andy Burnham will on Friday open a new government base in Manchester dubbed “No10 North” in a nod to his 10 Downing Street office in London, as he seeks to shift economic decision-making away from the capital.
Burnham, who became the U.K.’s prime minister on Monday after succeeding Keir Starmer, is moving quickly to put his stamp on government, with the new base in northern England intended to signal a shift away from what he said was decades of economic decision-making centred in London.
The new British prime minister, a former Greater Manchester mayor, will also use the office in the city to chair the first meeting of a revived National Economic Council, a cabinet-level body bringing together senior ministers and regional mayors to coordinate the government’s economic growth strategy.
The council was first established in London during the 2008 financial crisis by Gordon Brown, the then British prime minister, to coordinate the government’s response to the economic downturn.
Burnham described the new base as being “the situation room for making Britain better - the place we use to get power out of Westminster, into the hands of people at a local level, so that they can turn things around.”
“The days of Whitehall resisting devolution are over, for good,” he added.
Opposition Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has questioned whether Burnham’s focus translates to national government, saying he was “behaving like he’s still the mayor of Manchester” and needed to focus on broader national challenges.
No10 North will initially operate from Heron House in central Manchester, a city-centre office building that houses Britain’s intelligence, cyber and security agency northern hub.
Burnham is expected to work from the Manchester site each week, while other ministers will also regularly use the office, the government said.
Burnham has cast his premiership as a “circuit-breaker” from the politics of recent years. The move to open an office in Manchester reflects the former mayor’s long-standing argument that power should be devolved from Westminster to cities and regions.
Reporting by Sam Tabahriti; Editing by Andrew Heavens
