Andy Burnham opens No10 North, describing it as ‘nerve centre of rewired Britain’
Addressing staff at No10 North, Andy Burnham said the new office in Manchester will be ‘the nerve centre of a rewired Britain’ and sadi power and energy will flow through the site in the coming years
Andy Burnham at the opening of No10 North in Manchester(Image: James Speakman/The Times/PA Wire)
Andy Burnham has pledged the newly-opened No10 North will be “the nerve centre of a rewired Britain”.
In an address to staff at the office in Manchester – which became operational this week – he said power and energy will flow through the site, where he plans to work at least one day a week.
Mr Burnham announced the new office would be set up to balance the concentration of power in London – and said its impact is more profound than most have realised so far. He said: “Isn’t it better that we have a North Pole, that balances the South Pole of our country where power will always be concentrated? But at least it creates that sense of a more balanced country, and that big things can be done from here.
“This is the place where Whitehall meets the rest of the country, I’ve called it the nerve centre for a rewired Britain. Or if you think about it in terms of the day-to-day kind of challenge around growth, it will be the situation room for growth where we all get around the table – Mayors with all of the teams and the Whitehall departments – so we get those decisions made more quickly.
“We break through the logjams and we get things done. So it is much more profound, I think, than people have worked out so far. It’s not just a new office. Through this place power is going to flow, energy is going to flow.”
Mr Burnham announced his intention to set up a base of power in Manchester, where he was regional mayor for nearly a decade, before becoming PM. He seeing No10 North in operation was the best day of his life.
The PM hit back at sceptics arguing other parts of the country would still feel left out, saying: “No10 North is as much for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as it is for the regions of England. if you get that feeling, then I think so much is possible. That doesn’t feel possible right now. And we can really get the energy, flowing right around the country.”
The government faces questions about the cost of setting up the operation in the North. Hitting back at critics, Mr Burnham said: “There’ll be many voices out there, I can hear them all already, often London based, but not exclusively… They like to say, `Oh, this will just be the new levelling up, or another sort of short-lived gimmick’, and they’ll also say `What’s it going to cost?'”
He continued: “What does it cost for everybody to troop down to London every time there’s a meeting when you need to make an argument about something?
“What does that cost? So actually, isn’t it better that we have a North Pole that balances the South Pole of our country, where power will always be concentrated?
“At least it creates that sense of a more balanced country, and that big things can be done from here.”
Cabinet members including Chancellor John Healey were at No10 North for a meeting of the National Economic Council, which Mr Burnham says will drive growth across the country. Also present were Cabinet ministers Angela Rayner, Yvette Cooper, Jonathan Reynolds and Louise Haigh.
The Prime Minister recounted having to leave the area he grew up in because there were no jobs, saying No10 North was about resetting this. The PM stated: “It’s true of places all over the country to get on in life, you had to leave where you were, because things weren’t here.
“And the country has always been a little like that, hasn’t it? That opportunity is not being evenly spread around the country, and not all places have felt that they’re part of the national story. And that is what this government is going to work every single day to change. And that is what No10 North is all about.”
There was a large-scale police presence outside the building – home of intelligence service GCHQ – as the Prime Minister arrived.
Housing Secretary Ms Rayner, who returned to the Cabinet on Tuesday, said: “The principle and the culture that he set in is that power pushed down through the devolution agenda has given benefits to Greater Manchester, that every other area should have the same, and they should be able to reap the benefits of that.
“And this is about making sure that people can see this is not about holding power in Westminster. This is about pushing power down, having respect for mayors, having respect for local leaders, working with economists in the local area and just driving that agenda forward.”
