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 had to laugh as I heard a vox pop on it from someone in Manchester saying it will be good for the local economy because Pret and Lettuce and Slug will be doing a roaring business!

It's going to be a bolt hole for Cabinet ministers or their staff who have northernish constituencies to come up to on Fridays so that they've a shorter journey back home. And will it mean that all of them will need a third home in order to be able to stay somewhere whilst working in Manchester and London?

I think it’s a great idea and let’s see how he gets on rather than dismissing out of hand eh? It’s innovative and reasonably bold given the Westminster centric focus we currently have. It will need proper investment and commitment to not be a gimmick. But the concept of trying to even up the country rather than have a heavy focus in one region (whilst accepting the huge financial, cultural and economic value of London) is not something to criticise him for IMO.

I meant to add that I think that individual reactions to this probably depend heavily on political affiliations. Those who want Farage in government, for example, won’t necessarily want Labour to be able to reconnect with those working class communities who have turned their back on them in recent years.

For those people (myself included) who regard what Reform represent as a threat then it can only be a positive.

Where are the big public announcements going to be made by the PM? Where are the photo ops going to be with visiting heads of state, or triumphant returning British sports teams and athletes? Where will the motorcade go after an election? And so on.

I can’t believe Burnham’s going to be using a lectern or glad-handing presidents and visiting royals outside an office block in Manchester. Which might well make No 10 North look a bit ‘poor relation’, and actually make the image worse.

It’s embarrassing. ‘The best day of his life’. I’m embarrassed for him.

I don’t see how it will work. Think of all the meetings he has and government officials he sees day-to-day not to mention attending parliament. All in London.

MPs, as anyone who knows anything about UK politics rather than the froth generated by the media, usually work from their constituencies on a Friday.

Therefore, working from an office close to the constituency, and having meetings with other people who are based up there on a Friday seems quite a sensible idea - rather than dragging everyone down to London.

This thread is a prime example of how the general public have bugger all knowledge of how the UK parliament works!

I think its quite a good idea and that devolved power is the way forward and im not even a Labour voter.

HOWEVER, wth were they thinking when choosing the typeface for the '10'. It's horrible and the numbers are too far apart. It hurts my brain everytime I see it on the news.

Whoever signed that off should be lined up against a wall and shot 🤨

I’m not quite sure what your point is. MPs don’t work from Downing Street. So why would they work from No 10 North? And cabinet meetings are on Tuesdays.

I agree that many people don’t understand how Parliament works…

Friday is constituency day. Burnham’s constituency is in Manchester. He should be there on Fridays, not in Westminster.

As I said in my previous post, and @Blossomtoes said - most people don't realise that MPs attend to their constituency on a Friday. The No 10 North is where the PM will be on a Friday. His constituency is near the new Northern office.

It makes sense for meetings with the Northern & Midlands mayors to be in Manchester, on a Friday, rather than London.

I never said that MPs work from Downing St

I also never mentioned cabinet meetings and Tuesdays

It’s a huge waste of money and seems to have happened in the space of a few days…it must have been planned in advance as it’s sprung up from nowhere.

I think it’s ridiculous, the job is based on No. 10 and if that doesn’t suit then don’t apply for the job.

It’s wrong this has been just allowed just like that.

Civil Service jobs are already spread out and roles are available in the regions.

Why was this allowed out of supposed nowhere?

While this is true the train from Glasgow to Manchester takes an absolute age

I am too dismayed that he using a bloody airbus but hopefully this won’t be regular

Baffled by people’s continued lack of understanding about how government works. This is one day a week. There is an existing high security location. No he’s not moving the whole of parliament to Manchester. Yes he was elected; we don’t have a presidential system, MPs choose a leader from their peers. And just to add, most people in this country do not live in London and having power shift to regions will help economic growth, which helps us all.

I still don’t see what point you’re making.

Prime Ministers don’t do constituency work; they have staff to do that. They’re busy with other things. The same is mostly true of all cabinet ministers, and some others.

Why does there need to be a meeting of mayors with the PM every Friday?

This No 10 North idea is about a sign of respect for more northern provincial parts of England. One can agree with that or not. But it’s got nothing to do with efficiency.

I have no problem with Andy Burnham putting his feet up at home on a Friday night, with a gin and tonic. But that’s not a reason for No 10 North.

Well, what I'd like to know is there going to be a Manquers? Is Burnham going to be in Manchester on a Friday and then fly down south to Chequers - or is he going to forgo the pleasure?

When so many people are “working from home” it seems a bit daft to have a PM who can’t/won’t do the same. It won’t be just him either, there will be a huge entourage of support staff, security, MPs, ministers and all their hangers on. It really doesn’t spread the message that this government is mindful of waste and unnecessary expense.

Overnight accommodation, out of hours working payments, travel costs, subsistence payments plus the waste of time when they could actually be doing the job. It sounds like a late night fag packet idea that unfortunately didn’t get thrown in the bin.

If Burnham wants to push expansion in the North then bin the HS2 London to Birmingham and sort out the Northern links, which should have been the priority in the first place.

I think it has the potential to be beneficial however not all regions of ‘the south’ are rich (think Thanet in Kent or Jaywick in Essex).

Also the point about the UK. What about Scotland?

I would like to see it work but he still has the same pot of money and issues. Perhaps local areas know better how to spend it?

I guess the devil is in the details.

What do you mean, why has it been allowed? Which rules or laws do you think have been broken? We have no formal constitution in this country. The Prime Minister can operate from wherever he likes. As far back as 1921, the entire Cabinet met in Inverness Town House, of all places. Are you outraged about that?

It sounds like a good idea to me. It would make a lot more sense for the UK parliament to be there, geographically. It's both symbolic and practical.

There is a difference between a symbolic gesture about where you stand as a country and a gimmick. Yes, there’s a degree of symbolism to No10 North - but personally I think it’s the right kind of symbolism. Why should anyone who wants a meeting with the prime minister have to schlep to London?

There was already budgets allocated and a site approved for a massive new civil service hub in Manchester, this is an extension of that - so, I don’t think it will cost much - or anything - above that.

We are one of the most centralised countries in the developed world, to our enormous detriment - I hope we finally have a government with the political will to change that.

There’s a foolish Labour myth that we should all be misty-eyed about the downtrodden north of England with its slums, rickets and racing pigeons. It’s an image from 100 years ago. There’s a lot of money and dynamism in the north of England.

There are many places in the southwest, southeast and London that are very, very badly off. The anti-London sentiment really only applies to places like Islington and its well-heeled socialists.

I find most of the people who I know from the south - hate it

most in the north and the actual north are well used to devotion and think it’s fair enough

before I get jumped on note my use of ‘’most of the people I know’

Prime ministers absolutely are still constituency MPs - I actually think it’s one of the most beautiful things about our political system. Obviously some are more hands on than others: John Major famously remained very involved in his constituency as a Primeminister and I imagine Andy Burnham will be the same. Rishi Sunak regularly worked out of the treasury base in Darlington as it is near his constituency.

It has long been argued that 10 Downing Street isn’t fit for purpose and there should be a split in operations between the immediate crisis management and the strategic planning. No 10 North is a neat way to do that.