Andy Burnham described the launch of No 10 North as the “best day of my life” as he opened the new government hub in Manchester, but quickly ruled out a snap general election, insisting he would stick to the 2024 Labour manifesto.
The prime minister was joined by his new Chancellor John Healey and a raft of ministers including Angela Rayner, Pat McFadden, Jonathan Reynolds, Yvette Cooper, Angela Eagle, Heidi Alexander and Miatta Fahnbulleh at Heron House. Burnham, who entered Downing Street on Monday after a rapid rise to power, said the northern branch would “get growth in every corner of the country” and “rewire the state”.
“Burnham opens No 10 North in Manchester, rules out snap election, insists he will stick to 2024 manifesto.”
But the move was dismissed as a “gimmick” by Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, who argued it “does not make decision-making any better, it’s just creating another branch of the civil service in a different place”.
Badenoch’s criticism came as Burnham faced questions about whether he would call an early election. In an interview with the Manchester Evening News, he said: “No I’m not. I don’t think that is right. We live in a parliamentary democracy. There was a manifesto in 2024. I’m sticking to that manifesto. I’m bringing forward my version but it is still within that manifesto. I just think that we need to focus on making the country work.” A general election, he warned, would “postpone that essential work”.
Burnham, who had previously served as Mayor of Greater Manchester, told staff that No 10 North was not just for the north-west but for every region and nation of the UK. “Through this place power is going to flow, energy is going to flow, new ideas are going to come through,” he said. He added that he wanted to “get Britain hoping again” and create a “one-team feeling” across the country.
The prime minister’s wife, Marie-France van Heel, has also attracted attention since her husband’s arrival in Downing Street. The Dutch-born marketing executive, who met Burnham at Cambridge, wore a lilac Victoria Beckham dress costing £890 to No 10 on Monday, prompting criticism over its cost during a cost-of-living crisis. Van Heel, who has worked at BSkyB and run her own agency MVH Marketing, previously featured in a dispute over her husband’s parliamentary expenses claims for a south London flat, with the Telegraph noting she “took up the baton, faxing detailed notes ‘on behalf of Andy Burnham MP’ to parliamentary officials”. Burnham had told the fees office that his wife would divorce him if he wasn’t reimbursed. Van Heel, who lost a sister to breast cancer and carries the BRCA1 gene mutation, opted for a pre-emptive double mastectomy.
Burnham insisted the shift of power northwards would be permanent, rejecting claims it was a short-lived gimmick. “What does it cost for everybody to troop down to London every time there’s a meeting?” he asked. “Isn’t it better that we have a North Pole that balances the South Pole of our country, where power will always be concentrated?”