New 'No 10 North' plan will rebalance power in Britain, Burnham promises

Image source, PA Media By Kate Whannel Political reporter Published 29 June 2026, 14:17 BST Updated 3 minutes ago A new Downing Street team based in Manchester and labelled 'No 10 North' will "oversee the biggest rebalancing of power our country has ever seen", Andy Burnham has said in his first speech since launching a bid to be the next prime minister. Speaking in Manchester, he pledged to redistribute power across the UK in an effort to "drive good growth in every postcode". He also promised the biggest council house building programme since the post-war period; a "complete rethink" of education and cuts to welfare in a "fair and lasting way". Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said Burnham backed devolution because he "doesn't know what to do so he wants to pass the problem to someone else". Burnham announced his intention to stand as prime minister to replace Sir Keir Starmer last Monday, shortly after being elected as the MP for Makerfield. So far, he is the only Labour MP to announce, and if he remains the sole candidate he could become the next prime minister as early as 20 July. Speaking at the People's History Museum, Burnham addressed an audience which included Steve Rotheram, Tracy Brabin and Oliver Coppard - his former mayoral colleagues from Liverpool, West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire. He provided an overview of the direction his government would take but, unusually for a political speech, did not take questions at the end. His key message was a commitment to devolving power to local communities away from senior civil servants in Whitehall, which Burnham said had "blocked" progress in Manchester. "It is time for Whitehall to accept that growth cannot be ordered from the top down - it can only be nurtured from the bottom up." He did not spell out what would be given to different areas but suggested regions would see "greater public control of essential services" such as water, energy and transport and that London could have more say over education and housing. He also said there would be "new opportunities to extend devolution in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland by taking power deeper down". "The people of Dundee and Bangor feel just as distant from Holyrood and the Senedd as they do from Westminster," he added. He argued that distributing power across the country would "give Britain the circuit-breaker it needs". Labour's 2024 manifesto promised to roll out devolution powers to new areas and to extend powers in those areas where mayors and combined authorities were already established. In February 2025, Angela Rayner, then the local government secretary, announced plans for six mayors in Cheshire and Warrington, Cumbria, Essex, Hampshire and Solent, Norfolk and Suffolk, and Sussex and Brighton. What are Andy Burnham's potential policies for No 10? Published 4 days ago What could Andy Burnham as PM mean for Scotland? Published 10 hours ago Burnham will need a Moscow test as well as Makerfield test, says ex-military chief Publish