No 10 North

[Arewethereyetarewe]

I have just seen this on the news. The building and meeting with some regional mayors.

Is this a good move or a gimmick?

I want to be positive but I am not sure 🤔

But when Rishi did it, the left were howling.

Plus, not even that far North.

He is an elected MP, as you well know. We do not elect Prime Ministers in this country.

I quite like the idea. It could draw jobs, wealth and investment to Manchester and surrounding areas so that can only be a good thing.

I don’t think he’ll be PM for long though!

About time, IMO.

Remember ‘levelling up’ when the Tories gave extra money to each others’ constituencies?

That was the actual waste of money gimmick.

Great to see this. About time that some power was moved out of London. Heron House is already a high security building so I doubt there is a major cost increase. There absolutely needs to be a shift towards growth elsewhere within the UK than the south east.

He is an elected MP? What on earth are you on about?

It's not even a new thing. I used to go to meetings at Government Office North West (GONW) in the early 2000's before it got disbanded by the condemn Government. They keep reinventing the wheel at great expense!

I don’t think anyone is saying the gov shouldn’t have offices or meeting rooms around the country.

They are saying that we shouldn’t have a no 10 north.

Ie. A prime minister who has decided he doesn’t want to move into no10. Aka. Not go to the office. He wants to bring the office to him. Which isn’t going to work. Are we getting 3 houses for all the MPs now. London, constituency and Manchester?

Seriously I am all for saying stick it to your employer and forcing work from home if you can get that over the line. But this isn’t any Tom dick or Harry. This is literally the prime minister of the country and the job is quite clearly the job. If he didn’t want the job why the hell did he force Starmer out.

A prime minister who has decided he doesn’t want to move into no10. Aka. Not go to the office. He wants to bring the office to him. Which isn’t going to work. Are we getting 3 houses for all the MPs now. London, constituency and Manchester

You made all that up you big plonker 😄

yes, Manchester is only just about northern England and the midpoint of the U.K. is further up in Lancashire.

Maybe he’s figured out that the Civil Service machine in London doesn’t need him hanging over their shoulders?

I like Burnham and I am still hoping he can be a uniting PM.
However, this is a ridiculous gesture, based on Manchester's collective chip on their shoulder. I've lived in various places across the UK, and Mancunians have an anti-London obsession unlike anywhere else (and they don't seem to realise that no one down south gives Manchester much thought -unless they support United or City).
We're a tiny country, it takes 2 hours to get from London to Manchester by train, it's just an embarrassing waste of time and money. It's not like we're the size of Russia.
If there has to be a second government base, there should have been a more transparent approach. There was no national discussion about where No 10 North should be, Burnham made a decision based on himself, not on the rest of the country (odd considering his refrain about giving more power to regional areas). What about the North East (it's further from Newcastle to Manchester than Manchester to London, so N10 North is hardly going to benefit them). What about the South West? What about rural representation? We've now got two metropolitan government bases, which leaves rural populations under-represented.
No future PM is going to want to keep the Manchester base after his time as PM.

I think it's a huge mistake.

Starmer fucked it for us Labour voters, and now Burnham is fucking it as well.

an unelected Prime Minister Obviously.
What on earth are you on about?

No one elects the Prime Minister. We elect our local MP.

Basing staff outside London as has been done for a treasury team I agree with. Might help the government seeing things from a non-London perspective I think. Not sure it needs ministers there though.

He’s working one day a week there. It’s not that dramatic. He’s sending a message that power doesn’t have to be solely based in London. It’s a good message to send, especially to all the people up North who have totally shit outcomes because investment and attention all centres round the south of the country. Other countries in Europe don’t have such centralised power systems like we do and there’s much more equality and less social issues.

Argh this is the most enraging response.

My first birth was the absolute worst day of my life ffs. Can we stop being so glib about life?

Why can’t the man have some professional pride ?

As if the PM can book a commercial flight!

The train is possible, but a commercial flight just wouldn't work. People would have to be bumped off the flight/out of seats in order for security to all sit in the right seats etc.

I think it is a great idea.

I am from up north, but live near London.

A few days ago I saw some people around London spot interviewed about Burnham. Everyone said, "oh, I don't think he will represent us down south. He is all about up north".

Really? 🤔WTAF Boo Hoo.

People in the south think everything is about them. Most of them have not even been north of Stevenage before they horrifiedly have to take their DC northward for Uni.

The wealth and opportunity disparity between the north and south is massive, and I for one welcome the day that someone (AB) does something about it for a change,

You've never elected a PM. This isn't how our system works.

This. I think we’re THE most centralised democracy (or close to) - the only others so centralised are actually autocracies? So that puts it into context

you know exactly what I mean. Don’t be so disingenuous. Starmer fought an election campaign against his rivals; laying out his manifesto and beliefs. Andy did not.

people vote for their local MP based on who they want in no 10, for the most part. But you already knew that.

I’m not greatly bothered by this. It’s obviously no more than a gimmick but probably only a modest waste of money.

No 10 North is the political equivalent of a toy craze: big for one Christmas and then never seen again.

Devolution sounds good but the devil is in the detail, for a policy like this. Recent SNP scandal shows that the set up really matters.