Burnham Unveils Number 10 North Plan to Devolve Power

Manchester, 29 June 2026 — Andy Burnham has placed a permanent Prime Minister's office in the North at the centre of his campaign to lead the Labour Party.

Burnham's Opening Salvo at the People's History Museum

Speaking to an audience of trade unionists, council leaders and business figures at the People's History Museum in Manchester, the newly elected Labour MP for Makerfield outlined the most ambitious transfer of authority from Whitehall since the Scotland Act 1998. His proposal for a standing "Number 10 North" would sit alongside the Treasury's existing Northern Powerhouse team and coordinate the largest council-house building programme since the post-war period.

Ten-Year Growth Plan Anchored in Manchester

The centrepiece is a decade-long devolution settlement that would redirect resources away from London and the South East. Burnham pledged a new Whitehall department charged with three statutory duties: public ownership of water and energy utilities, reindustrialisation of former manufacturing regions, and town-centre regeneration through denser residential development. Business rates reform would accompany the package, designed to revive high streets from Wigan to Wakefield.

Panel Verdict: Can the Manchester Model Travel?

Channel 4 News Economics Editor Helia Ebrahimi pressed the panel on whether the approach could be replicated beyond Greater Manchester. Hannah Peaker of the New Economics Foundation argued that concentrated decision-making in Manchester had already delivered faster house-building approvals than comparable southern cities. Henri Murison of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership countered that repeated "levelling up" funds had failed because money remained ring-fenced by the Treasury in SW1A.

Opposition Response and Internal Labour Reaction

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch dismissed the plans as "old hat" during an appearance on the same programme. Within Labour, several backbench MPs from London constituencies privately expressed concern that a Manchester-based operation would sideline their own regeneration priorities. Burnham countered that every British postcode would see "good growth", not merely those within the M60 ring road.

Impact on Daily Life Across the North and Beyond

For residents of Makerfield, the pledge translates to new council homes on brownfield sites and potential public ownership of United Utilities. In County Durham and South Yorkshire, similar housing targets would be set by combined authorities rather than the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. Welfare reform elements would be piloted first in Greater Manchester before national rollout, affecting Universal Credit claimants in the North West sooner than those in the East Midlands.

Westminster's Institutional Reckoning

The speech forces the question of whether the Palace of Westminster can remain the sole centre of executive power. If implemented, Number 10 North would require legislation to amend the Ministerial and Other Salaries Act and create a statutory Manchester base for the Prime Minister's Office. Treasury officials have already begun modelling the fiscal transfers required, though no figures have yet been published.

By Erica Thornton, Staff Writer