New UK PM Andy Burnham to spend ‘one day a week’ working in Manchester

LONDON - Britain’s new Prime Minister Andy Burnham will spend “at least one day a week” working from “No. 10 North” under his government’s flagship plan to move some operations from London to Manchester, his spokesperson said on July 21.

The former mayor of Greater Manchester in the north-west who took office on July 20, Burnham has made devolution of power from London to other regions a focal point of his agenda.

As part of this, he will move some jobs from Whitehall, the government’s offices in London, to the so-called No. 10 North – in reference to the prime minister’s residence 10 Downing Street in the British capital.

The northern branch of governance is initially set to be based in Heron House in Manchester, which also hosts offices of the GCHQ intelligence service, the BBC reported.

It will be overseen by close Burnham ally Louise Haigh, who was on July 20 appointed to the senior positions of Cabinet office minister and first secretary of state.

“The prime minister said it was not a gimmick,” Burnham’s spokesman told reporters about No. 10 North on July 21.

“This is about rewiring a system that has left too many people feeling disconnected from political decision-making.”

According to the spokesman, some staff were already working from No. 10 North, though he did not specify how many.

The BBC and Manchester Evening News reported that civil servants were being offered relocation packages to move to the northern offices.

Experts warn achieving devolution will require time and an overhaul of more than the government’s offices, including the country’s financial system and regional powers.

But many in Manchester and surrounding areas, part of Britain’s former industrial heartland that suffered from economic decline, have welcomed even the symbolism of the move and Burnham’s appointment to the seat of power.

Manchester-based student Joel McCulloch, 22, told AFP on July 20 that it was “far too late for a northerner to have some actual real political say” in government.

The UK’s last six prime ministers were from and represented parts of London or the more affluent south-east of the country, and Burnham often cites his northern background to position himself as a man of the people and political outsider. AFP