On Monday, while the cameras were fixed on that famous black door in Downing Street, something important was happening 165 miles away. A small team of officials and advisers were walking into an office building in Manchester to set about the remaking of the British state.
This was the beginning of No 10 North: the first major act of this government and what I hope will be seen as its most defining.
Over the course of the past 40 years, Britain has taken a series of wrong turns. In the 1980s, political power was centralised, economic power was privatised and communities were deindustrialised. Many of the places most affected have not recovered since and are still in decline. They have been unable to turn things around because they simply do not have the necessary power to do so. This feeling of neglect has lain underneath the increasingly fractious politics that has bedevilled Britain in recent times.
Solving this problem is crucial for the cohesion of our country. It is something with which it has wrestled for a long time but never got right. We have seen gimmicks, such as levelling up. We have seen the shifting of bits of the British state around the map to no great effect.
Why has none of it worked? It is partly because, even though Whitehall departments have set up outposts, decision-making power has remained in London. It is also because, in the very centre of government itself, Nos 10 and 11 have not been sufficiently aligned – particularly on growth.
This is what No 10 North is seeking to correct and, if we succeed, it could bring the much-needed sea change in the way Britain is run. It is about driving growth from the most powerful office in the land and doing so in close alignment with the Treasury. It is about taking power down and placing it in the hands of people who can use it best.
No 10 North will be responsible for accelerating devolution. It will drive reindustrialisation and growth across every postcode of the UK. It will remove barriers to regeneration, from council housebuilding to public transport infrastructure. Crucially, No 10 North will bring the whole of Whitehall together behind places rather than standing in their way. Our long-term ambition is clear: to achieve equivalent living standards across all the regions and nations of the UK.
Giving places their own power matters because, without it, they cannot do those things. Growth cannot be imposed from the top down, but instead has to be nurtured from the bottom up. Britain has spent decades trying unsuccessfully to do the former and now, through No 10 North, it is about to give the latter a proper go.
People will have heard me talk about wanting the nation to face the same way and pull together. That example has to be set by government. Whitehall departments need to stop fighting turf wars and start pulling together behind the places that desperately need their support.
I know change is not always easy and that this is the biggest rebalancing of power our country has seen. When I entered Downing Street, I told staff that the era of fighting devolution is over. No one in government loses when power is shared. When you lift up a place, you lift up Britain.
I know the power of devolution is real. A decade ago, I left Westminster to go back home and try to change things for the better. And we did. We brought buses back under public control. We created new opportunities for young people. We built a city-region with twice the economic growth of anywhere else in the UK. What we did in Greater Manchester, we can do across our nation.
after newsletter promotion
Tomorrow, from No 10 North, I will chair the first meeting of the National Economic Council, bringing together senior ministers and regional mayors. Through this forum, we will ensure every department in Whitehall gets behind the growth and devolution ambitions of every region.
I want Britain to believe again. That means creating a country where everybody feels a part of what is happening and everybody feels heard. This government will demonstrate to everyone that they are part of the story.
Later this year, we will bring forward a 10-year plan for Britain, laying out a path from where we are now to where I believe we all want the country to be. Our plan will set out how we bring the essentials in life back under stronger public control to make them affordable again; how we reindustrialise every part of Britain; and how we build more council homes and solve the housing crisis.
I know people cannot wait forever to see change. So we will do smaller things too to provide some breathing space. We have already done this with two tax cuts: one on VAT on electricity bills for households over winter and another on business rates for pubs, social clubs and live music venues.
The new government has shown in its first five days how it is prepared to take the small steps to make life easier now and the big ones to put Britain back on the right long-term path. Both are needed simultaneously if we are to carry people with us.
I am under no illusions about how hard this is all going to be, but I have a clear plan and I know how to get things done. And this week has left me in no doubt that the civil service is ready to come on this journey with me too.
-
Andy Burnham is the prime minister of the United Kingdom
-
Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
