Andy Burnham says he wants to ‘get Britain hoping again’ as he opens No 10 North

Andy Burnham has said he wants to “get Britain hoping again” as he opened a new headquarters for the centre of Government in Manchester.

The Prime Minister is expected to work at No 10 North, at Heron House in Manchester, once each week during his premiership, as part of his move to push power out of Westminster.

He described opening the new base as the “best day of my life” as he spoke to staff and ministers there on Friday morning, and said it was a “full circle” experience for him, as he had to leave the North West to start his career.

Burnham 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?

“That opportunity has not been evenly spread around the country, and not all places have felt that they are part of the national story, and that is what this Government is going to work every single day to change.

“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, just as this great city has done, and the other English cities are doing through devolution, turning things round because of that ability to be able to do more for themselves.”

The Prime Minister insisted No 10 North 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.

“High streets lifted around the country, Britain reindustrialised, getting those good jobs back into all of our regions. We’ve got such an opportunity, everybody, ahead of us. 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.

“I think we can we can do that together if we carry on working in this in this way. So it is such a such an amazing moment for me. It’s everything I believe in. Everything I’ve spent my whole life working towards.”

Burnham also spoke about wanting to create a “one-team feeling” across the whole of the UK, and insisted No 10 North was “as much for Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, as it is for the regions of England”.

“If we get that feeling, then I think so much is possible that doesn’t feel possible right now, and we can really get the energy flowing right around the country,” he said.

The new Prime Minister met face-to-face for the first time on Thursday with Scottish First Minister John Swinney, and told him that another independence referendum is “off limits”.

He also met with Wales’s First Minister Rhun ap Iorwerth in Glasgow, who pushed for the Welsh Government to be given the same devolved powers as those available to Scotland, including over rail, policing, justice and the Crown Estate.

Concluding his speech at No 10 North, Burnham railed against critics – “often London based” – who he claimed will see the project as a “gimmick”.

The Prime Minister added: “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?

“What does that cost? So actually, isn’t it better that we have a north pole that balances the south pole of our country, where power will always be concentrated?

“At least it creates that sense of a more balanced country, and that big things can be done from here.”

Among those who joined Burnham at No 10 North, a building which is also home to GCHQ’s Manchester and North West hub, were senior ministers chancellor John Healey, first secretary of state Louise Haigh, and the country’s top civil servant, cabinet secretary Antonia Romeo.

He later convened the first meeting of a revived National Economic Council (NEC), a body originally set up by Gordon Brown to deal with the fallout of the 2008 financial crash.

At the NEC meeting held within No 10 North, Burnham spoke with English regional mayors, including Steve Rotheram (Labour, Liverpool City Region), Tracy Brabin (Labour, West Yorkshire) and Dame Andrea Jenkyns (Reform, Greater Lincolnshire).

The committee is “here for you, to empower you”, Burnham told the English regional leaders.

He added: “More than that, empower the people that you represent, the places where they live, to make it feel as though we’re all part of a national story where everyone is pulling in the same direction, and we’re all beginning to feel positive change in our communities.”

He said a separate, similar forum would be arranged with the leaders of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, which he described as a “different form of devolution”.

The Prime Minister added: “But we have agreed that there should be a version of what we’re doing here through No 10 North for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, working through the particular devolved arrangements in each of those nations.”

Also on Friday, Mr Burnham met with leading business groups after a week in which he set out to provide “breathing space” to firms and people amid high cost pressures.

The groups included the Confederation of British Industry, British Chambers of Commerce, Federation of Small Businesses, Make UK, Small Business Britain, and Startup Coalition.