Andy Burnham is proposing to help govern Britain from Manchester on a part-time basis.
The prospective prime minister said yesterday that a new “No 10 North” base would become the “nerve centre” of his administration.
Allies of the former Manchester mayor say he intends to spend one or two days a week in his old northern stronghold whenever his diary permits.
Mr Burnham is also expected to avoid relocating permanently to Downing Street, instead keeping his family home near Wigan and using No 10 only while working in London.
Expected to take office as prime minister in a Labour coronation next month, Mr Burnham used his first major intervention since returning to Parliament to outline a Left-wing programme, pledging a major expansion of council housebuilding, renewed emphasis on manufacturing jobs and public control of utilities.
He argued that the agenda could restore the “working-class aspiration” associated with the 1970s.
The proposed No 10 North headquarters, he said, would act as the “nerve centre of a rewired Britain”.
He added that it would help repair Britain’s “broken” political system and deliver “the biggest rebalancing of power our country has seen”, with the aim of securing “good growth in every postcode”.
Andy Burnham wants to run Britain from a new ‘No 10 North’ outpost
Upon receiving the keys the No 10 Downing Street, he would only use them when he came to work down in London
The Daily Mail revealed yesterday that Mr Burnham was eyeing up potential tax raids on middle-class southerners to fund his plans, including an annual property tax based on the value of family homes.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said his agenda amounted to ‘more tax’ so that he could ‘send money to the North of England to try and bribe voters at the next election’.
Security experts have warned it could cost the taxpayer tens of millions of pounds a year to replicate the fortress-level No 10 security in the North.
Both Keir Starmer and Rishi Sunak explored the idea of living in their family homes in London while serving as PM, only to be told the demands of the job made it impossible.
Some government insiders fear Mr Burnham’s plans could also accelerate Whitehall’s working-from-home culture, with more officials choosing to ‘dial in’ when the PM is out of the capital.
But Mr Burnham said the plan was central to his vision for rolling out devolved government throughout England.
One friend told the Mail: ‘He will not be using No 10 as his main home, he’ll be staying in Golborne.
‘He said if he was elected prime minister, he wouldn’t forget where he was from, and he meant it.’
Burnham as Prime Minister would remain primarily in his family home in Golborne, pictured, near Warrington
Another ally said: ‘This isn’t just part of a political strategy. It’s who Andy Burnham is. He isn’t just from the North, he’s of the North. It made him.’
Mr Burnham has dodged scrutiny since his thumping by-election win in Makerfield which triggered a coup against Sir Keir.
With potential Labour rivals falling by the wayside, he looks set to become prime minister on July 20, despite not having stood at the 2024 election.
In a tightly controlled appearance in front of the cameras in Manchester, Mr Burnham insisted his plans were ‘consistent with the 2024 manifesto’ which delivered Labour’s landslide.
But he again refused to take questions from the media about how he will govern and who he will appoint to his top team.
Ironically, aides claimed he was unable to answer questions because the self-styled ‘King of the North’ was in a rush to get back to London.
Addressing an audience of Labour activists, Mr Burnham acknowledged that his devolution drive could take a decade to deliver a sustained increase in living standards.
But he insisted that a radical rewiring of the state was essential to rebuilding Britain.
‘Westminster hasn’t been working for people and it hasn’t been working for a very long time,’ he said.
‘In fact, it is broken. And, as a result, the country isn’t where it should be. It is stuck in a rut.
‘We cannot go through another decade like the one we have just had. We need a new determination to raise living standards of every person in this land.’
Mr Burnham’s speech was light on policy detail. But he promised to deliver a world where there was ‘good growth in every postcode and hope in every heart’, delivered by mayors with new powers over tax, housing and welfare.
Hinting at faster help on the cost of living in a Budget this autumn, he added: ‘While not taking risks with the public finances, I will seek to give Britain some breathing space as soon as I can.’
Nigel Farage warned that Britain could not afford to wait another decade for change to be delivered.
The Reform UK leader pointed to experience in Wales and Scotland that devolution does not automatically deliver better growth or public services.
Mr Farage said: ‘Just to give more and more powers, including tax-raising powers, to mayors across the country won’t of itself stop the boats, it won’t deal with the national debt.
‘He says it will take ten years to lift Britain back up. Those of us who believe Britain is broken would say we have not got ten years.
‘The country will be completely unrecognisable in ten years. The country wants immediate action.’
Mrs Badenoch said Mr Burnham’s plans amounted to ‘more and more government (being) created all over the country’, adding: ‘More politicians, more outsourcing of decisions to bodies with even less scrutiny and accountability.
‘He doesn’t have a plan beyond telling mayors to go and sort it out. This is not good enough.’
