Andy Burnham will hold his first meeting in No 10 North in Manchester today, the new branch of Downing Street in the north-west that the prime minister has described as “the biggest rebalancing of power our country has seen”.
He will chair the inaugural meeting of the national economic council [NEC], a cabinet committee first launched in 2008 by Gordon Brown in response to the financial crash. It will bring together senior ministers and regional mayors to shift economic decision-making away from London.
Writing for the Guardian, Burnham said: “It is about taking power down and placing it in the hands of people who can use it best.”
He added:
double quotation markNo 10 North will be responsible for accelerating devolution. It will drive reindustrialisation and growth across every postcode of the UK. It will remove barriers to regeneration, from council housebuilding to public transport infrastructure. Crucially, No 10 North will bring the whole of Whitehall together behind places rather than standing in their way. Our long-term ambition is clear: to achieve equivalent living standards across all the regions and nations of the UK.”
Burnham is expected to work from No 10 North once a week, bringing him closer to his Makerfield constituents. Photograph: Ryan Jenkinson/Getty ImagesBased in Heron House in central Manchester, in the same building which houses GCHQ in the north-west, Burnham is expected to work from No 10 North once a week, bringing him closer to his Makerfield constituents and to the community where he grew up. Other ministers including Angela Rayner and Lucy Powell, who hail from the north-west, will also regularly use the office, the government said.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch accused the prime minister of governing “like he’s still the mayor of Manchester”, saying he needed to focus on broader national challenges.
Read the full report here:
Regional mayors to take key roles in UK policy decisions as part of No 10 North plansRead more
