Andy Burnham Shifts UK Growth Policy to New “No 10 North” Office

Prime Minister Andy Burnham announced that responsibility for the United Kingdom’s economic-growth strategy will move from HM Treasury to a newly created “No 10 North” office in Manchester. The change separates the Treasury’s traditional dual role of managing public finances and driving growth, assigning the latter to the regional Downing Street outpost. The Cabinet Office has already transferred local-economic-growth and devolution strategy functions from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to No 10 North, and now plans to shift national growth policy as well.

Burnham: Economic growth policy will move from HMT to No.10 North The IndependentWhy Burnham might regret his No.10 North plan

HM Treasury has long combined fiscal-control duties with the “growth mission,” a structure the prime minister argues can “cloud the growth mission.” The move echoes the short-lived 1960s Department of Economic Affairs created by Prime Minister Harold Wilson, which also sought a dedicated growth ministry.

Burnham: Economic growth policy will move from HMT to No.10 North

• John Healey, Chancellor of the Exchequer, is reported to fully support the plan, indicating that the Treasury will continue to focus on “control of public finances.”

Why Burnham might regret his No.10 North plan

• Louise Haigh, First Secretary of State, will have ministerial oversight of No 10 North, positioning her as the senior official responsible for the growth agenda.

Burnham: Economic growth policy will move from HMT to No.10 North

• Officials overseeing the Manchester outpost have said the arrangement will cost taxpayers no additional money.

The Independent

• The Manchester branch of Downing Street, located in Heron House, is already operational.

The Independent

• No extra public-funding requirement has been identified for the new growth office.

Burnham: Economic growth policy will move from HMT to No.10 North

The restructuring concentrates growth policy in a regional hub, aiming to reduce perceived “blockages” caused by the Treasury’s combined remit. Proponents argue that the model enhances devolution by giving local economies a more direct line to national growth strategy. Critics, noting the historical failure of similar attempts, question whether the split will create new coordination challenges between ministries and the new office. If successful, the arrangement could shift public attribution for economic performance from the chancellor to the prime minister, altering traditional political dynamics around fiscal and growth outcomes.

Burnham: Economic growth policy will move from HMT to No.10 North

• “It is actually a huge transfer of power,” — Andy Burnham

Burnham: Economic growth policy will move from HMT to No.10 North

• “There’s a job to be done around control of public finances. It’s just the dual job of growth and control of public finances [that] sometimes clouds the growth mission. And particularly having No.10 leading on that growth mission means you’ve got maximum power to unlock the blockages where they exist in the wider Whitehall system.” — Andy Burnham

Burnham: Economic growth policy will move from HMT to No.10 North