Andy Burnham, widely expected to succeed Keir Starmer as Prime Minister, is reportedly planning to establish a "No. 10 in the North" by relocating a portion of his Downing Street team to Manchester. This initiative is framed as a move to decentralize power away from Westminster.
Burnham, who has returned to the House of Commons as the MP for Makerfield after serving a nine-year tenure as Greater Manchester mayor, has been a vocal critic of concentrated power in London. In 2016, when he left Westminster to pursue the mayoralty, he stated that "voters have a problem with an out-of-touch elite who don't seem to care."
The proposed move has drawn comparisons to U.S. President Donald Trump's practice of dividing his time between the White House and his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. Burnham could potentially enter Downing Street as early as July 17 if he is the sole candidate nominated by Labour MPs.
This plan echoes a similar strategy by former Chancellor Rishi Sunak, who established a new Treasury hub in Darlington. A source briefed on Burnham's plans indicated to the Financial Times that "Andy has big plans on devolution and that includes having an office in the North."
While a spokesperson for Burnham did not deny the reports, they declined to provide further details. Concerns have been raised about the potential detachment of such an office from the wider Whitehall apparatus and the security implications of splitting time between locations. A former Downing Street official commented that implementing such a plan could be difficult due to institutional resistance within Westminster.
Ben Houchen, the Conservative mayor of Tees Valley, noted that a "No. 10 in the North" initiative was already in progress under Rishi Sunak, with a dedicated building and hundreds of civil servants working in Darlington. The government is reportedly investing tens of millions of pounds in this expansion.