Burnham plans No. 10 North to shift power from London

Andy Burnham used a Manchester speech on June 29 to propose a new government operation in the city called "No. 10 North", pitching it as a way to pull power out of London and into regional hands. He said local leaders should gain more control over infrastructure, housing, utilities, reindustrialization and the welfare state, while a slimmer Whitehall concentrates on growth and regeneration.

The pitch landed as Burnham’s team was also drawing up a first 100-day programme for government. Early planning has centered on reforming England’s social care system and possible action to tackle rising household energy bills, a sign that allies are preparing for more than a branding exercise if Burnham reaches 10 Downing Street. Keir Starmer resigned as Labour leader and prime minister on June 22, saying he would stay on as caretaker until a successor is chosen, and Burnham has moved to the front of that race.

Burnham’s case rests on the politics he built in Greater Manchester, where allies describe his approach as “Manchesterism”, a mix of devolved power, public control over key transport assets and cooperation with private industry. In March 2023, Greater Manchester signed a deeper devolution deal with the UK government that gave the city region a single funding settlement similar to Scotland and Wales, new responsibilities over transport, housing and regeneration, and £150 million in brownfield funding. The document also set out powers over business support, employment and skills support, policing, spatial planning and housing investment.

That local record gives Burnham a concrete example to point to. Greater Manchester introduced a £2 single bus fare in September 2022, before the national cap began on January 1, 2023, and Transport for Greater Manchester later said bus and tram fares would be frozen through 2026. For Burnham, that is the governing case for No. 10 North: show that decisions made in Manchester can be translated into cheaper travel, more local spending power and less dependence on Whitehall.

The open question is whether the plan amounts to a structural break or a familiar devolution promise in new language. Burnham is not just asking for a northern office but for a redistribution of authority over money, transport and welfare, backed by the machinery of the Civil Service and a government that would have to prove it can govern beyond London’s orbit.