UK Prime Minister, Andy Burnham has officially opened No 10 North in Manchester, describing the new government hub as a landmark step in his plan to redistribute political and economic power away from Westminster and deliver “growth in every corner of the country.”
The opening of No 10 North, a satellite branch of Downing Street based in north-west England, marks one of the flagship initiatives of Burnham’s new Labour administration.
The office is intended to bring senior government decision-making closer to communities outside London, reinforcing the Prime Minister’s long-standing commitment to devolving powers to regions and nations across the United Kingdom.
According to the UK Prime Minister, the project signified considerably more than just a symbolic shift of government activities. Instead, it marks the start of a major shift in how Britain is governed, with more power being shifted from Whitehall to regional authorities.
“It’s not just a new office. Through this place power is going to flow, energy is going to flow, new ideas are going to come through.”
Andy Burnham
The Prime Minister argued that successive governments had concentrated too much political influence in London, making it harder for communities elsewhere to shape national policy or secure investment tailored to local needs.
According to Burnham, establishing No 10 North demonstrates his government’s determination to rebalance the country’s political landscape, noting that, “No 10 North is going to take that up to the next level.”
The Prime Minister emphasised that, he understood that negotiations with London had been difficult in the past and ‘sometimes it’s felt like an argument with people in the centre of government’ due to the balance of power.
“It’s sending a message to everybody here who has come in to No 10 North in its early days that you’ve got the full support of government from the very top – Prime Minister, Chancellor, first Secretary of State, that’s a very powerful message that we’re sending today, that the political commitment is there.”
Andy Burnham
Burnham stressed that the initiative was designed to benefit the entire United Kingdom rather than simply northern England, insisting that every region and nation would benefit from decisions being made closer to local communities.
“There’ll be many voices out there, I can hear them all already, often London based, but not exclusively. They like to say, ‘Oh, this will just be the new levelling up, or another sort of short-lived gimmick’, and they’ll also say ‘What’s it going to cost?'”
Andy Burnham
He added, “what does it cost for everybody to troop down to London every time there’s a meeting when you need to make an argument about something? What does that cost? So actually, isn’t it better that we have a North Pole that balances the South Pole of our country, where power will always be concentrated?”
Opposition Questions Cost as Burnham Defends Decentralisation
While the government has presented No 10 North as a major constitutional reform, opposition parties have questioned whether the new office will genuinely improve decision-making or simply create another layer of government bureaucracy.
Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch dismissed the initiative as a political stunt.
“No 10 North” was a “gimmick” she said, arguing that “it does not make decision-making any better, it’s just creating another branch of the civil service in a different place.“
Kemi Badenoch urged Burnham to focus on broader economic transformation rather than localised initiatives.
“But he’s mostly talking about the little things bus fares. He’s not talking about AI, he’s not talking about how we create jobs.”
Kemi Badenoch
She also questioned the financial implications of the new office, indicating that any future Conservative government would first examine its costs before deciding whether to retain it.
Moreover, Liberal Democrat MP Calum Miller also called for the Manchester office to demonstrate tangible national benefits rather than serving as a convenient regional workplace for ministers.”
He stated that No 10 North must be “more than just a convenient Friday working from home base for him and other Manchester MPs.”
“He needs to demonstrate it’s more than just that and that this represents something for the whole country that rural and coastal communities that have been really left behind are actually part of his plan for decentralisation.”
Calum Miller
The new government hub will initially operate from Heron House in central Manchester, a building shared with intelligence agencies, while a permanent government complex is being constructed in the Ancoats district.
UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham is expected to work regularly from Manchester. Under the new arrangements, No 10 North will take on more responsibility for strategic devolution and regional economic growth decisions, while the Treasury and the Ministry of Housing, Communities, and Local Government will continue to contribute to policymaking.
The establishment of No 10 North builds on broader efforts by successive British governments to decentralise the civil service. Recent figures indicate that only around one in five civil servants is now based in London, with the number continuing to decline as departments expand their presence across the country.
For Burnham, however, the Manchester office represents more than relocating officials. It is intended to become the centrepiece of a wider effort to reshape Britain’s governance by ensuring that decisions affecting local communities are increasingly made closer to the people they impact.
Whether No 10 North becomes a lasting symbol of constitutional reform or, as critics suggest, an expensive political experiment will depend largely on its ability to deliver the regional growth and stronger local decision-making that the Prime Minister has promised.
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