Andy Burnham sets out “Number 10 North” devolution plans in first major speech

Labour leadership hopeful Andy Burnham has unveiled a 10-year economic plan aiming for a significant power shift from Whitehall to local leaders. His vision prioritizes devolving control over housing, transport, education, and economic development to metro mayors and local authorities. Burnham argues this decentralization is crucial for reversing sluggish growth, tackling regional inequality, and rebuilding public trust, promising "good growth in every postcode".

Andy Burnham is expected to be Prime Minister by the end of next month (Picture: Peter Powell/PA Wire) In exactly three weeks’ time, Andy Burnham is expected to walk through the door of No 10 as the UK’s new Prime Minister. Before then, though, he needs to set out his vision for the country. That will come later this morning in a speech at the People’s History Museum in – where else? – Manchester. Long-time Burnham aficionados won’t be surprised to hear much of his pitch centres around a single idea: devolution. He’ll pledge to use his time in power to change how the UK is governed, not just who governs it. But what would devolution involve, and would it actually change anything? What does devolution mean? Everything is changing, all the time Cut through political noise and understand how the Westminster chaos actually affects your life with Metro's politics newsletter Alright, Gov? Sign up here. Devolution is the process of handing down (or ‘devolving’) powers from central government to decision-making bodies further down the constitutional ladder. The standout example of this in recent history came after Tony Blair came to power in 1997, with the creation of devolved legislatures in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. These governments (or assembly, in the case of Northern Ireland) are able to make decisions in devolved areas such as education and health. The Scottish Parliament was established in 1999 (Photo by Ken Jack/Getty Images) But the government in Westminster retains control of areas such as immigration and defence – and can also veto certain decisions, as it did with Holyrood’s gender recognition reform bill in 2023. A smaller-scale version of devolution has also been playing out over the past 15 years or so in English combined authorities. This is where Burnham comes in. He wants to kick off the ‘biggest transfer of power out of Whitehall in modern times’, arguing that regions and local communities should be making more of the decisions that affect them. That means more powers for combined authorities, devolved governments- and mayors, the role Burnham held until a little under two weeks ago. What is Andy Burnham’s devolution platform? As the now-former Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham is evangelical about the positive impact of spreading power across the country. In his 2024 book Head North, written with Liverpool Mayor Steve Rotheram, he calls for a ‘federal UK’. That would mean a system of government more similar to the US or Germany, where individual states have roughly equal status to the central government even if not all powers are devolved. Burnham writes that the UK must ‘complete the process of devolving power out of Westminster to all parts of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland to allow all the nations and regions to do much more for themselves’. Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves also talked a lot about devolution (Picture: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire) ‘Only then,’ he adds, ‘will we usher in a new era where people and places can be masters of their own destiny, and free to collaborate, without everything having to pass through the distorting lens of Westminster.’ At his speech today, Burnham will say that replacing the ‘centralised, top-down model’ with a local focus will result in ‘good growth in every postcode’. If you’re wondering how he could get away with such major changes when he’s just been parachuted into Parliament via a by-election, the good news for Burnham is this was largely promised in his party’s 2024 manifesto. It says: ‘Labour will transfer power out of Westminster, and into our communities, with landmark devolution legislation to take back control.’ Burnham’s moves would also mean more power for top Reform mayoral figures such as Andrea Jenkyns (Picture: Oli Scarff /AFP) In fact, the government has already passed the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026 to hand down more powers to authorities around the country. Communities Secretary Steve Reed said on Sky News yesterday that Burnham would put ‘rocket boosters’ under the devolution that began under Sir Keir Starmer. Such a move would also mean handing more power to the Reform mayors of Greater Lincolnshire and Hull and East Yorkshire, as well as the Conservative mayors of Tees Valley and Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. And it risks voters blaming the new PM if they are disappointed in how their local bodies are handling complex new areas. This appears to be the central idea behind Burnham’s upcoming term in power – so he’ll be hoping everything works out as planned. Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk. For more stories like this, check our news page. Comment now Comments Add Metro as a Preferred Source on Google Add as preferred source

Makerfield MP and hopeful prime minister to pledge ‘growth in every postcode’ Good morning. When Keir Starmer became PM, he had published his missions and his first steps, Labour was awash with policy, but some people still felt it was hard to know what his driving motivation was, what was the single big goal he wanted to achieve in politics. Andy Burnham is set to become PM three weeks today and in his case it is easy to answer this question because he published a book about it in early 2024 with Steve Rotheram, the Liverpool city region mayor, called Head North. They argue that the north of England has lost out because power in the UK is hoarded in the south and they propose a huge rebalancing, achieved by the devolution of decision making and spending away from London, building on some of the work they had been able to achieve as metro mayors.Anyone curious as to what Burnham will do in Downing Street has to start here. The book even includes a 10 point plan, some elements of which will almost certainly be dropped but some of which will be at the core of the Burnham project. Continue reading...

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