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 🤔

London is well endowed with opulent hotels. There are also plenty of country house hotels. There’s no need to maintain a luxurious, high maintenance, barely used mansion.

Major famously spent every Friday in his constituency.

Added to which it looks highly unlikely that any member of the Royal family will ever live in Buckingham Palace again. Use that.

I can find any evidence to suggest that Major spent every Friday on constituency work.

I don't see how a PM would ever be able to make the time to do it. I'm sure the nicer ones make sure that they are seen around their constituency when they can, but I doubt very much of you'll be able to see them personally about the fact your UC payment is incorrect or a local development is going to put a hundred lorries an hour down your road.

I literally remember it - maybe it wasn’t every single Friday, but it was definitely very regular because it meant he’d often do media interviews about national events from the doorstep of his house on a Friday.

I’m sure Andy Burnham won’t do as much constituency work as your average backbencher but I have no doubt he’ll remain very connected and visible in Makerfield.

Being at his own home doesn't mean he was putting in a day's work for the constituency. As someone who voted for him I would not expect him personally to be spending 20% of his personal work time on a tiny number of the country's population. I would expect him to delegate the constituency work to his constituency office, and do national work pretty much full time, even if it was from his constituency home.

I remember it too. Major was an outstanding constituency MP while he did all three of the top jobs. He did what every MP should do - put his constituents first. He ran a surgery almost every week. He was a bloody good PM too.

They all did and do that. No PM or cabinet minister is holding surgeries in their constituency, other than very occasionally for show. The idea that they run the country and have time to act as constituency MPs is preposterous.

Exactly.
It’s entirely about HIS convenience.
It is to suit him and his home life and not move to London. I read that his family/wife won’t be moving to Downing Street.
He wants it all ways it seems.
If there was a case to have a No 10 North then why not Leeds? Or any other city? Why Manchester !
To suit Burnham that’s why it’s ALL about him.

Oh for goodness sake, what nonsense. Its about devolution. About power not being solely in London anymore. Its about the north finally having more of a voice.

On the up

'Sheffield on the up' amid surge in manufacturing https://share.google/tmeTsVm5L5OkJEXIL

Things are changing and I'm hoping for better times.

This is the power of a labour government....this is what is happening.... people need to be patient and believe in the state.

High Tax, Good Service, Solid Growth and wealth distribution....the foundation of labour policy

Agreed its a gimmick, because he wants to visit home often. Would have been a bit more meaningful if it had been literally anywhere else.

Whatever !! 😂😂
It’s got sod all to do with devolution and all about his own convenience.
Will and up another short lived gimmick!

How does a handy Friday for Burnham in Manchester give power to the region?

I continue to be open mouthed at the ignorance of so many posters. So quick to say money is being wasted when they have no understanding of the situation at all.
Theresa May started to move many parts of the civil service to other locations in the UK. Darlington, Leeds, Birmingham etc. Manchester was one such location, there are plenty of civil service buildings in Manchester and a new complex near Ancoats is being built.
Existing buildings will be used, many of the cabinet are from the North West, it’s not a big deal at all. All the moaning is either knee jerk anti Labour tribalism or not understanding the system.

Totally incorrect. Most cabinet members hold surgeries at least monthly. Many PMs still hold
surgeries but they are appointment only. The only preposterous thing was your inability to check your facts before disparaging this and previous cabinets.

Utter rubbish.

If you seriously think that cabinet ministers carry out an MP’s workload in their constituencies, let alone the PM, you are deluded. They each have a staff to run their constituency offices, and a good thing too.

I seriously think it because my MP did it. I met Major at one of his regular surgeries and he sorted my problem for me. I don’t think it was a hologram sitting in front of me, it certainly didn’t feel like it when he shook my hand.

MPs of all status are still MPs. If some are more diligent than others, great. But John Major was not doing the work of a backbench MP in his constituency.

Blair held weekly surgeries, as most lowly MPs do, but then made it once a month on becoming PM. That’s usually the form.

The fact remains that virtually all of Burnham’s constituents will be handled by his staff, not by him. And that’s how it should be. We don’t want a PM on the phone to British Gas for two hours about an error in Mrs Bradshaw’s bill.

All recent PM uses Friday afternoons to hold surgeries, these are often done appointment only or telephone. Sunak, Starmer, May all held regular surgeries they only did complex cases triaged by staff. All cabinet ministers also hold surgeries, google it, use AI, but they all hold surgeries.

Lyndsey Hoyle holds surgeries - it’s there job.

The only MP who does not surgeries is Farage.

Impact assessment on staff.
Costs assessment.
Security assessment.

All done over the weekend with zero scrutiny. Or maybe not done at all.

John Major was not doing the work of a backbench MP in his constituency.

So, I’m lying, am I? Because I can assure you he was. I was there on a Friday afternoon with him right in front of me.

Oh Jesus. No, and I never suggested you were lying. “The work of a constituency MP” is, or should be, a substantial commitment for non-ministerial MPs. It’s different for ministers and more different the higher you go.

John Major was not tending to Huntingdon the same way after he achieved high office as beforehand. It’s really not difficult.

It's a gimmick (and I say that as a north westerner).

I'd like to see the cost benefit analysis of:
a) How Burnham sitting in an office in Manchester is going to directly benefit the average person in Orkney, Pembrokeshire, Devon etc
b) Why Manchester was chosen over Liverpool, Leeds, Bradford, Sheffield, Newcastle etc.

You absolutely did - and still are - suggest I’m lying.