![\"Great](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/great-ancoats-street-in-manchester-city-centre.png\")
<\/p>\nManchester locals have given their verdict on Andy Burnham’s plans for No10 North after he laid out plans for a “rewired Britain” in a speech last week.<\/p>\n
Despite having only been the MP for Makerfield for three weeks, Mr Burnham already has big plans for the country \u2013 one of which would involve opening what he called a \u2018No10 in the North\u2019 up in Manchester.<\/p>\n
He told a room of journalists: \u201cChange will be driven through the Prime Minister\u2019s Office in an extended operation based here in Manchester. But here\u2019s the important thing \u2013 it will only be based here.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe job of No10 North will be to make power flow into the Midlands, into the South West, into the East of England and, yes, into London as I said before, as much as the North East, Yorkshire & the Humber and here in the North West.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo10 North will be the nerve centre for a rewired Britain. It will be the conduit through which we redistribute power and resources across the UK. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt will coordinate all parts of Government, at national and local level, to agree a long-term economic strategy and help all places set new growth ambitions.\u201d<\/p>\n
It has since been reported that the proposed site for this \u201cnerve centre\u201d would be located at a brownfield site on Great Ancoats Street in Manchester City Centre. <\/p>\n
The site itself is currently scheduled for a \u00a3310million regeneration project, to create the \u2018Manchester Digital Campus.\u2019<\/p>\n
The proposed site for Andy Burnham’s \u2018nerve centre\u2019 would be located at a brownfield site on Great Ancoats Street in Manchester City Centre<\/p>\n
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GOVERNMENT PROPERTY AGENCY<\/p>\n
Speaking to GB News, people on the street reacted to the proposals, with one person saying that, \u201ctaking some of the central control out of London, and distributing it round the neighbourhoods\u2026 and spreading some of this country\u2019s wealth back to some of the people who helped create it, I think, is a very good thing to do\u201d.<\/p>\n
Another pedestrian was more on the fence, saying \u201cthe Government is in London, so it should probably be in London\u201d, but added \u201ca voice in the North is probably a good idea\u201d.<\/p>\n
One woman simply said \u201cif it was any other Prime Minister than Andy, I would be happy with the idea\u201d.<\/p>\n
The former Greater Manchester Mayor has faced cross-party criticism for the proposals, with suggestions it could cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of pounds, and that it would perhaps increase bureaucracy, rather than making things more efficient.<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/the-proposed-site-for-no10-north.png\")
The proposals could cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of pounds<\/p>\n
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GOVERNMENT PROPERTY AGENCY<\/p>\n
In response to these plans, William Yarwood, campaigns director at the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: \u201cTaxpayers should not be forced to fund a duplicate Downing Street, a fresh army of officials and another bureaucratic empire just so Andy Burnham can play Prime Minister in Manchester.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf he wants to help the North, he should start by reducing the crushing tax burden.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, the Chief Executive of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, Henri Murison said they would welcome any \u201cbig opportunities\u201d for the North of England, stating: \u201cIf the Prime Minister-in-waiting continues to have such an ambitious agenda, we will do everything we can to support that.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe same way we worked with Conservative governments in the past when they had ambitious plans \u2013 we were obviously founded by former Conservative Chancellor, George Osbourne.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will remain committed to working with any politician, nationally or regionally, who\u2019s committed to the same things that we are.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Manchester locals have given their verdict on Andy Burnham’s plans for No10 North after he laid out plans…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":682046,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[35884,19306,59,57,58,50,65089,229,56,44208,54,55],"class_list":["post-682045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-across-the-uk","tag-andy-burnham","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-north-west-of-england","tag-politics","tag-uk","tag-uk-politics","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/682045","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=682045"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/682045\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/682046"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=682045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=682045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=682045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}