Prime Minister Andy Burnham opened the new No 10 North headquarters in Manchester on Friday, describing it as the “best day of my life” and vowing to “get Britain hoping again”.
The centre of Government office, located at Heron House in central Manchester, is expected to host the Prime Minister once a week as part of his push to move power out of Westminster.
Full circle moment
Mr Burnham said the opening was a “full circle” experience, recalling that he had to leave the North West to start his career. He added: “And it’s true of places all over the country to get on in life, you had to leave where you where you were because things weren’t here. The country has always been a little like that, hasn’t it?”
He stressed that opportunity had not been evenly spread, and that the Government would work “every single day to change” that. “And that is what No 10 North is all about: putting power in every postcode so that people can turn things around for themselves and make changes,” he said.
Growth and reindustrialisation
The Prime Minister insisted the new base was key to getting “good growth going in every part of the country”. He added: “I mean it when I say every postcode, everybody. That’s what we’ve got to do. Nowhere forgotten, everywhere feeling heard, everyone with a sense that their place can be more than it is today.”
He spoke of lifting high streets, reindustrialising Britain, and bringing good jobs back to all regions. “I said I wanted to get Britain believing again. Today is a day where we hopefully can really build that sense. Get Britain hoping again,” he said.
One-team UK
Mr Burnham also said he wanted to create a “one-team feeling” across the UK, insisting No 10 North was “as much for Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, as it is for the regions of England”.
He met Scottish First Minister John Swinney on Thursday, telling him another independence referendum is “off limits”, and also met Wales’s First Minister Rhun ap Iorwerth, who pushed for devolved powers over rail, policing, justice, and the Crown Estate.
Critics dismissed
Concluding his speech, Mr Burnham dismissed critics – “often London based” – who might see the project as a “gimmick”. He asked: “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? … Isn’t it better that we have a north pole that balances the south pole of our country, where power will always be concentrated?”
Senior ministers Chancellor John Healey, First Secretary of State Louise Haigh, and Cabinet Secretary Antonia Romeo joined Mr Burnham at the building, which also houses GCHQ’s Manchester and North West hub.
