Andy Burnham chose Manchester for the defining image of his new premiership this week, opening the temporary “No10 North” and telling staff it could be “the best day of my life”.
For the small and medium-sized firms that make up the bulk of the northern economy, the burning question is whether, and when, the prime minister’s half-week outside of London really changes.
In the long run, the honest answer is: not soon. Construction has not yet started on the five-acre retail park earmarked for permanent housing, and the Treasury only approved a draft case for the Manchester civil services campus in March. The 900,000 square foot facility, intended to house about 8,800 government employees, is not slated to open until 2032, three years after the latest possible date for the next general election.
Currently, Mr Burnham works at Heron House, a government building in the city center that is also used by GCHQ and, as it happens, hosts a pub. Security has been tightened and workers have been scrambling around Albert Square.
He did not spare any expense, as he arrived on a government plane at the opening of the Commonwealth Games in Scotland. “What does it cost to have everyone come down to London every time there’s a meeting where you need to argue something?” he said.
Downing Street insists there is no additional debt for taxpayers. “The operation of No10 North will be covered by the existing budget of the Cabinet Office. There will be no additional cost to taxpayers,” the spokesman said, adding that staff “are already working on the new No10 North”. Experts are less certain, warning that strengthening the PM’s office and providing round-the-clock armed police would not be cost-effective.
Why it matters to business owners
Remove the sign and there is a real prize for regional firms. A civil service campus of that scale, part of the government’s Places for Growth programme, means construction contracts, supply chain work and a host of Whitehall decision-makers on the northern doors rather than 200 miles away. For firms that have spent years traveling south to make a name for themselves, proximity has value.
The biggest change is political. Mr Burnham is using No10 North as a symbol of his campaign to decentralize Westminster, an agenda linked to devolution which the Treasury has called “unfinished business”. When skills, transportation and property tax decisions are approaching businesses, firms that negotiate early with their mayoral authorities will benefit greatly.
The risk is the unequaled benefit. Analysts have warned that Mr Burnham could run a two-tier England where the company’s prospects depend on sitting within the mayoral boundary. That matches a wider pattern where the region’s SMEs are already missing out on the support and networks their London peers take for granted.
Mr Burnham planned the project in his own way, remembering leaving the city as a graduate who “couldn’t find a job”. His contention that “opportunity is not spread evenly across the country” is borne out by ONS data on regional productivity, which shows London still far ahead of all other parts of the UK. No10 North, he said, was about “empowering every postcode for people to change things for themselves and make changes just like this big city has”.
The government points out that it already has around 80,000 civil servants in the North West, “with around 700 roles moving from London to Manchester in the last year”. For SME owners, the test is not to cut the ribbon but to ensure that dedicated energy and public spending reach their postcode before 2032.
