Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram has warned his best friend and new Prime Minister Andy Burnham that Manchester cannot be his sole focus when moving power out of Westminster. Since before entering Downing Street, Old Roan-born Mr Burnham has made clear his desire to strengthen devolution to the nations and regions.
No 10 North to be based in Manchester
As part of this, the Evertonian PM announced No 10 North, with the expectation he himself would work in Manchester at least one day a week. It will be situated in Heron House in central Manchester before moving to a digital campus thought to be complete in 2032.
Mr Rotheram, the Prime Minister’s long-term friend and ally, said he told Mr Burnham he thought the relocation could and should have come to Liverpool but conceded the city currently didn’t have the infrastructure required. Speaking on BBC Radio Merseyside, the Metro Mayor revealed his candid response to Mr Burnham’s shift back towards his old stomping ground.
Rotheram's candid response to Burnham
It is understood offers had been made to civil servants to relocate from Whitehall to Manchester, with the new operation being overseen by Louise Haigh, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. Mr Rotheram said he had words with the Prime Minister about the choice of No 10 North.
He said: “It’s great for the north and it’s great for the whole country that what you’re going to do is concentrate on rebalancing the economy, so that’s got to be a good thing for everybody. Would I have preferred it to have been in Liverpool?
“Of course I would have and I told him that, I told Andy that, I said ‘oh bleeding Manchester again.’ They were building this digital campus and we haven’t got the grade A office space that we need.”
Liverpool's grade A office space plans
Pall Mall, which will be built on the former Bixteth Street Gardens in the city centre, is to deliver the first grade A office space for more than a decade. The council-owned site, which used to include a city centre green space, was controversially fenced off in 2020 as initial plans were announced for new development of three blocks of offices, a hotel and gardens. A design and build partner was appointed to the project earlier this month.
Liverpool Council’s cabinet has signed off on acquiring the completed development in 2028 and fully fund the project with a view to selling it at a later date after failing to secure an external investor.
Mr Rotheram added: “That’s why the announcement by Rachel Reeves just before she left about two grade A office spaces in Liverpool, one at Pall Mall and one at the old Martins bank next to the Town Hall, they’re happening, they’re going to happen. It’s so we attract the types of jobs and companies into the city of Liverpool and of course our city region, but that’s the idea behind them and we haven’t got the things that Manchester have got.
“The fact is in all honesty, you have to come to Liverpool don’t you, whereas Manchester people travel in all different directions to it and through it.”
Warning against Manchester-centric focus
The Metro Mayor also had a warning for his close friend now occupying Downing Street that he cannot solely focus on his old patch when championing devolution.
He said: “The Manchester-centric fears are real for everybody, not just for us here, but the other side of the Pennines in Leeds and Sheffield and I’ve told him that can’t happen. That’s why I think it’s really essential that if there is going to be a wider distribution of civil servants from London, a big chunk of them need to come here and I’m fighting for that.
“I genuinely think this would be a brilliant spot for some of those really meaty departments to start to have people based here. We’ve got room in Mann Island in our offices and we can accommodate them.”
