Andy Burnham’s ‘No 10 North’ Plan Stirs Debate Within Labour Party

If unopposed, Labour leader Andy Burnham is set to become prime minister by late July. He announced a schedule that will see him split his week between Downing Street and a new “No 10 North” office in Greater Manchester. The Manchester unit will oversee regional powers on housing, transport and economic decisions, a move Burnham calls the “biggest rebalancing of power our country has ever seen”. He would be first prime minister since Harold Wilson not to reside full-time in Downing Street and the first since Lord Salisbury to spend time outside London.

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Burnham argues that concentrating authority in Whitehall hampers growth, saying a lagging regional economy hurts the whole country, including London and the South East. He says the No 10 North unit will be the conduit for redistributing power and resources across the UK. London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan welcomed devolution but said he will work with the government when policies benefit London and challenge them when they do not.

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Southern Labour MPs warn a Manchester-centric agenda could marginalise their constituencies, saying “we can’t sacrifice the South in favour of the North”. A northern MP cautioned “it can’t all be about Manchester”, urging inclusion of other cities. Cornwall MP Perran Moon warned that a mayoral combined authority would breach Council of Europe’s minority-status framework and could boost the Reform Party, which holds 28 seats on Cornwall Council.

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The Reform Party’s 28-councillor presence on Cornwall Council highlights the electoral risk of alienating southern voters. Burnham’s split-location plan tests Labour’s ability to balance regional empowerment with national cohesion. Academics note shift could reshape fiscal decision-making away from Whitehall, altering the “London-versus-the-rest” dynamic in debates.

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Sources differ on how quickly devolution will deliver benefits. Burnham promises change, yet MPs stress that “big changes…won’t appear overnight”. Details on transferred powers and timelines are undefined.

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• “We can’t sacrifice the South in favour of the North.” — Unnamed southern Labour MP

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• “It can’t all be about Manchester. What about Leeds, Newcastle, Durham, Birmingham, Sheffield? We aren’t a two-city country.” — Unnamed northern Labour MP

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• “It is, in my view, discriminatory to not allow Cornwall access to the economic development funding, the transport funding, the skills funding, the innovation funding, because of who we are.” — Perran Moon, Labour MP for Camborne and Redruth

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• “Britain’s opportunity divide is not a North-South story,” — Lee Elliot Major, Professor of Social Mobility, University of Exeter

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Burnham is expected to assume premiership by the end of July and to establish the No 10 North unit in Manchester thereafter. Labour MPs have said they will monitor the rollout for details on the powers to be transferred and the timetable for implementation.

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