Andy Burnham is expected to say he wants to move parts of his Downing Street operation out of London if he becomes Prime Minister in his first major policy speechAndy Burnham, pictured in his Makerfield constituency, wants to shift power out of London(Image: Getty Images)Andy Burnham will look to move parts of his Downing Street operation to Manchester in an ambitious bid to shift power beyond London.The former Greater Manchester mayor is expected to say he would set up a “No10 in the North” if he becomes Prime Minister in his first major policy speech on Monday. The move, first reported by the FT, is expected to be part of a devolution drive that could form a core part of his agenda.Mr Burnham has become a vocal critic of Westminster-centric politics. He has already promised to apply a “Makerfield test” to ideas – measuring policies against how they would affect his constituents in the North West.No10’s famous black door is a symbol of Prime Ministerial power – and moving part of the operation away from London could set a tone for his time in power. Rishi Sunak previously set up a Treasury campus in Darlington but other efforts to divert power outside of London failed to get off the ground.Keir Starmer resigned as Prime Minister this week after losing the support of his MPs(Image: Seiya Tanase/NurPhoto/Shutterstock)Boris Johnson suggested moving the House of Lords to York while Parliament was revamped after he stormed to power in Labour’s heartlands in 2019 but the move never materialised. John McDonnell, Jeremy Corbyn’s Shadow Chancellor, mooted moving part of the Bank of England to Birmingham in 2017.Mr Burnham will start spelling out his vision for Government as the prospect of a challenger recedes, setting him on course to become PM on July 17.Top Starmer ally Darren Jones, who had been mooted as a candidate, ruled himself out of the contest. He told Sky: “Andy Burnham is going to be the next PM. And if there was a contest of Labour members, he would win. So the question for me is what would the benefit be to the country and to the party in a leadership contest?”He urged Mr Burnham to set out more details on his economic plans as he said there were “upwards of 100 MPs who have expressed concerns either around a contest or economic policy, or who were just feeling pretty depressed off the back of Keir Starmer resigning”.Pressure is mounting on Mr Burnham to set out his vision if he gets the keys to No10 without having to test his ideas in the cauldron of a leadership race. Some MPs are uneasy about how little they know about his plans but accept he has won the endorsement of the majority of the Parliamentary Labour Party.With only weeks to go until he could be installed in Downing Street, Mr Burnham is already pulling together a top team, with all eyes on who he chooses to be his Chancellor. A Labour insider said: “Who the Chancellor will be matters. It is a choice between someone who is a bit more left leaning or someone who would have more of a ‘steady the ship’ role.”Rachel Reeves is widely expected to be replaced in No11, with several names in the frame to replace her including frontrunner Ed Miliband and former Health Secretary Wes Streeting. Former ministers like Angela Rayner, and Burnham ally Louise Haigh, could also be among those getting top jobs.Blairite former minister James Purnell, who resigned in 2009 in an attempt to bring down Gordon Brown’s government, is expected to get the important backroom role as his chief of staff.He has also been getting advice from economic heavyweights, including ex-Bank of England chief economist Andy Haldane, former OBR chair Richard Hughes, and Jim O’Neill, a former Treasury minister.Lord O’Neill backed the idea of a radical shift of power outside London. He told LBC: “It’s greatly needed, and there’s other things I would argue early years education, and if you look at the endemic challenge in what I guess David Cameron’s early days used to call problem families, and these multi-connected problems of very poor education, dreadful housing needs, a lot of those things can only be really dealt with uniquely to the places where they are. And I think an integrated approach to that linked to cutting welfare spending is also something else, which will be pursued.”He declined to confirm the reports about moving parts of No10 north, but added: “I think it would be fantastic.”
