Wednesday 08 July 2026 4:47 am  |  Updated:  Tuesday 07 July 2026 6:00 pm

The Debate: Should Britain set up a No 10 North?

By: Anna Moloney

Deputy Comment and Features Editor

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Is Andy Burnham’s vision for a Number 10 North visionary or gimmicky? We hear both sides in this week’s Debate

YES: No 10 North would force Whitehall to embrace devolution

Number 10 North will be a great asset for spreading good growth and raising living standards through devolution.

Whitehall’s instinct is to centralise. Look at how local government is funded: just five per cent of all tax-take in the UK is collected at local level, less than anywhere else in the G7. Councils are overwhelmingly reliant on central government grants to do anything. Despite great strides on English devolution since Burnham became Mayor of Greater Manchester in 2017, mayors still have to take the “begging bowl” to Whitehall when they want the funding for big projects. The next Prime Minister should break that instinct.

A big transfer of power from central to local government will face institutional resistance, but it becomes much more likely once civil servants know that being in Whitehall no longer guarantees having the Prime Minister’s ear.........

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