Angela Rayner has revealed that powers at the Treasury in London will be moved to No10 North in Manchester in a bid to drive economic growth.
The Communities Secretary gave details of Andy Burnham’s plan to remove the economic growth mission from the Treasury in Whitehall. It would retain the responsibility for overseeing the public finances.
Jobs move expected
The shake-up is likely to mean hundreds of the 2,000 posts at the Treasury being moved out of London to Manchester. Details emerged of the plan the day after official figures showed the capital has the highest unemployment in the country.
Explaining the reforms, Ms Rayner told Times Radio: “It's about the whole of Government recognising that power that is centralised, which we're one of the most over-centralised economies, doesn't always give the best results for all areas.
“We've been keep trying to do that, and some people call it trickle down economics, and you've seen areas which were deindustrialised over the last sort of 50 years that haven't seen that investment and that drive come forward.”
Delivery mechanism
She added: “So we now have an industrial strategy. We have a Government framework which is about putting power back in local people's hands, and then it's about delivery.
“So No10 North is a delivery mechanism for devolution, for the fiscal support, so that areas can start unleashing and unlocking their own potential.”
The devolution announcement came just days after ministers pressed ahead with plans for default planning approval for new homes within 800 metres or ten minutes walk of busy Tube, rail and tram stations.
Reactions and context
The reform will be welcomed by many people desperate to find a home they can afford to rent or buy in London or other parts of the country. But it sparked immediate protests that the policy runs counters to Mr Burnham’s pledge to devolve more powers, by stripping councils of key decision-making, and threatens to lead to more homes on green belt land.
Ms Rayner was speaking after the Prime Minister said the new No10 North will take responsibility for growth from the Treasury as part of his blueprint for the biggest “devolution of power in modern times”.
Mr Burnham suggested the Treasury would focus on controlling the public finances while his outpost of 10 Downing Street based in Manchester would lead the charge on boosting the economy.
In an interview with The Times, he said Chancellor John Healey was fully supportive of the move which he described as part of a “huge transfer of power”.
“There’s a job to be done around control of public finances. It’s just the dual job of growth and control of public finances (that) sometimes clouds the growth mission,” he said. “And particularly having No 10 leading on that growth mission means you’ve got maximum power to unlock the blockages where they exist in the wider Whitehall system.”
The Manchester branch of Downing Street in Heron House is already up and running and officials claim it will cost taxpayers no extra money. The Prime Minister is expected to work at the outpost once each week during his premiership, as part of his move to push power out of Westminster.
However, Mr Burnham risks accusations of a power grab with No10 North taking control of the economic growth agenda, rather than this being shifted to the Treasury’s campus in Darlington.
