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 🤔

I'm not being disingenuous. I'm pointing out how our system actually works. People vote for an MP. The Prime Minister is the person who commands a majority in the Commons, and that person is currently, and unequivocally, Andy Burnham. You can argue that replacing a PM without an election lacks a political mandate, but that's a different argument from saying the PM was unelected.

Can I suggest a gentle amendment? It’s not a north/south divide, it’s a London SE/everywhere else divide.

its very irritating for the SW to be lumped in with “the south” coz it still has massive socioeconomic issues and people don’t see if coz they just visit for ice creams and holidays.

Leaving aside security considerations etc it might be worth looking at how many commercial flights a day there are non-stop or even direct between Glasgow and Manchester.

Loads of people don't.

They vote for party, they vote for local candidate, they vote to stop the party they hate the most, they vote in protest, they vote on single issues...

Absolute waste of money.
Moving staff
Or having a second office fully staffed
All the travel

Not to mention Angela raynor apparently going to work one day a week there...no doubt she'll need to buy another house nearby

The governing party was elected on the manifesto, so Lords conventions, so as they are, will still apply to the manifesto.

He went from Glasgow I thought.

Wales is devolved. He wants more of the country devolved. I think it’s a good idea. No other country is as ‘capital’ focused as we are.

Performative nonsense. I live in Manchester and don’t know anyone who thinks it’s a good idea.
The building he’s currently using also houses the Registry Office so it’s having an impact on people’s weddings. Is be pretty pissed off it that was mine.

I live at the other end of the M62 to Manchester. I get the feeling it's going to continue to be all about the northwest for Andy Burnham. Don't suppose it helps that we have a Reform mayor either.
£2 bus fare cap is great.....if you have a bus service to use. Lots of rural areas don't.

Gimmick. How does the fact that in this totally connected on-line, 24 hour news world, he sits in an office a couple of hours from London benefit ‘ the north’ at all? Like he has to physically be somewhere to think about it? How does it help Newcastle or Portsmouth? Why Manchester- is there any reason other than that’s where he’s from. Is every PM going to have a No 10 where they are from. Liz Truss - no 10 Norfolk, Cameron - No 10 Chipping Camden 🤣.

It really isn't a long thread to read..... 😉

An office block in Manchester sporting a 'No 10' sign and headed up by Louise Haigh all seems a bit performative and cringey. The UK isn't very big and it has London which is one of the major world cities and ranks top in Europe and the world in many areas. It seems a bit pointless to fight that. Manchester is a great city, but London is on a different level.

Can you explain how the same people with the same power sitting in an office in a different place moves power?

And if Manchester why not Leeds, Liverpool, Newcastle, Exeter .......

Heron House is a stopgap, a new building is being erected in Ancoats. Manchester and Liverpool have seen phenomenal investment in the last decade, it didn't need a symbolic move like this to achieve that.

all the people up North who have totally shit outcomes because investment and attention all centres round the south of the country.

Can only have been written by someone who hasn't visited Liverpool or Manchester for a decade or more.

He is already annoyed me more than Keir.

I don't think he has 2 years and I can't wait to see Kemi wipe the floor of him at PQs.

It's quite England Centric view. From a UK perspective it is still in the south (just about).

I think it is a good idea overall - the more time politicians spend outside the Westminister bubble the better. I'm not sure putting convicted fraudster Louise Haigh in charge of it is a good idea.

I don't think it will be long until voting in Parliament moves to a digital system, it is absolutely ridiculous that all those MPs have to be in the commons to go through corridors to vote in person.

Well then that's even more reason why a minister presiding over a government spending fortune of ours on net zero should not hold remote meetings as a political gesture then.

If the train was truly impossible a car would have been damned sight cheaper and more carbon friendly than a jet plane.

I really can't get my head around how he thinks anyone will give a shit about this except as a giant waste of time and effort. He said "It will drive reindustrialisation and growth across every postcode of the UK". Ask any Scot, Welsh or NI resident if they think that's true and they'll wet themselves laughing.

The article in The Guardian explaining this was a load of absolute waffle

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jul/23/number-10-north-growth-uk-andy-burnham?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

I cringed so hard when I saw No 10 North. It’s try hard

Rishi Sunak used to work out of the HMRC offices in Darlington a lot as it was near his constituency. He just didn't bang on about it and was absolutely useless anyway.

Ive lived many years in Scotland, originally from Manchester. The last time I looked, the PM is the PM for the whole of the UK. Yes we have our own Parliament, but we still have MPs sitting in Westminster. I do not support the SNP cause.

However, all this number ten of the north is irritating me as every time it’s mentioned, I find myself saying “….of the north OF ENGLAND”. Nothing wrong with spreading regional power bases but if optics and language matter, and if no 10 and the PM is for the whole UK, well this doesn’t come across that way. The north of the UK is far further than a couple of hours from London.

And while no 10 of the north of England was being toasted, vast swaths of the highlands and Aberdeenshire were under clouds of smoke yesterday from the dreadful wildfires in the Cairngorms. That is minor compared to the people of Nethy Bridge being evacuated because of the danger they are facing.

Oh and many rural people are at the mercy of oil prices and trump’s war - where’s our vat cut. Appreciate I’ve sidetracked but whilst there are various huge things going on in our own country, I find the whole number 10 a bit cringe and performative.

A car? It would take a fleet of cars, including a large police escort, involving a different police force for each county it passed through. For safety, the Prime Minister's vehicle must be kept in motion at all times, preferably at speed, which would be a logistical nightmare over such a long journey. It makes far more sense to travel by air.

All the more reason why instead of sitting in a meeting in Manchester with half the attendees on Teams on a screen on the wall, he should have been in Westminster and his face one of the ones on the screen on the wall of the meeting in Manchester.

Or, instead of spending his working life near the bottom of the country, ensconced in the heart of the wealthy, populous South East, he could spend some of his time working elsewhere, closer to those living in Scotland, the north of England, Wales and Northern Ireland. I really don't see a problem with that.