Prime Minister’s opening remarks to staff following his arrival at No 10 North: 24 July 2026
Prime Minister Andy Burnham's remarks to staff following his arrival at No 10 North.
Thank you, everybody. I cannot tell you what a proud moment this is. I think this might be the best day of my life.
I’m not joking. I know you think I am, but I’m not. Things are just completely coming full circle here, for me to be here with you all in the heart of Manchester this Friday morning at the end of a fairly big week is just everything to me.
Because it’s almost exactly 35 years since I left this city as a recently graduated young man, couldn’t find a job in the city. It was in a pretty bad place at that time, it’s fair to say. The ’80s turned into the ’90s. There wasn’t much.
And that really is an experience that I’ve never forgotten. My generation of people growing up here, and it’s true of places all over the country, to get on in life you had to leave where you were because things weren’t here.
And the country’s always been a little like that, hasn’t it? Opportunity has not been evenly spread around the country and not all places have felt that they’re part of the national story and that is what this government is going to work every single day to change, and that is what No 10 North is all about: putting power in every postcode so that people can turn things around for themselves and make changes just as this great city has done and the other English cities are doing through devolution. Turning things round because of that ability to be able to do more for themselves.
And it’s also about getting the whole country facing the same way and then pulling in the same direction. That I think is what No 10 North can achieve. It’s felt a little at times that local government’s just been a bit forgotten and places aren’t able to do what they want to do. But then at the sort of city level, or the regional level, sometimes it’s felt like an argument with people in the centre of government and people having a to and fro all of the time.
Imagine, just imagine if we were all working together as one team, pulling the same way and making the change happen for people and places. I think we can do that. In fact, I feel we’ve got to do that. If we want to take Britain from where it is right now, and I think we all have a feeling that it’s not fully where it should be right now.
If we want to get it back to where it should be, it’s got to be about that one team feeling. All of the places around the UK and all of our regions and all of our nations, because No 10 North is as much for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as it is for the regions of England.
If we get that feeling then I think so much is possible that doesn’t feel possible right now and we can really get the energy flowing right around the country. I’m really pleased, and he’s hiding but maybe he should come and join me if he doesn’t mind. I’m really pleased that our new Chancellor of the Exchequer is here today.
I know it sounds like woe is me, we’ve had such a hard week, but we were in a pub together yesterday, weren’t we? Rating pub snacks. It did look like hard work. But it’s brilliant that you’re here, John. Next to John is our first Secretary of State, Louise Haigh. And that, I hope, is sending a message to everybody here who has come into No 10 North in its early days that you’ve got the full support of the government from the very top: Prime Minister, Chancellor, First Secretary of State. That’s a very powerful message that we’re sending today, that the political commitment is there.
This isn’t about government working in its old way, it’s about the Treasury, No 10, close together, the heart of government, then driving the same mission from here right out into all parts of the country. And I’m delighted the Cabinet Secretary is here too today. Antonia, thank you for everything you have done to make today possible, because I also want to get the culture right, the relationship right between politicians and our brilliant civil servants and then everyone feeling that they’re all in the same game together and we’re all working together and we’re all working hard to support each other. That’s what this is all about.
I need to thank Caroline, former chief executive now of the Great Manchester Combined Authority, who’s done so much to make today possible. But what I already see as I look around and see sort of the faces from my old world, it does feel like the boundaries are breaking down a little and we’re sort of coming in together, and starting to kind of knit in together and then really get going and getting the growth going, the good growth going in every part of the country.
And I mean it when I say every postcode, everybody, that’s what we’ve got to do. Nowhere forgotten, everywhere feeling heard, everyone with a sense that their place can be more than it is today. High streets lifted around the country. Britain re-industrialised, getting those good jobs back into all of our regions. We’ve got such an opportunity, everybody, ahead of us.
I said I wanted to get Britain believing again. Today is a day where we hopefully can really build that sense, get Britain hoping again. I think we can do that together if we carry on working in this way. So it is such an amazing moment for me. It’s everything I believe in, everything I’ve spent my whole life working towards, a country that really does feel together, feel that all parts are involved and making their contribution. No 10 is North is going to take that up to the next level.
Make no mistake, I just want to finish on this point. There’ll be many voices out there. I can hear them all already, often London-based, but not excuses. You know, they like to say, oh, this will just be another, the new Levelling Up or another sort of short-lived gimmick.
They’ll also say, what’s it going to cost? But I’m just going to say something now that I’m going to say in the meetings later. You know, what does it cost for everybody to troop down to London every time there’s a meeting when you need to make an argument about something? What does that cost?
So actually, isn’t it better that we have a North Pole that balances the South Pole of our country, where power will always be concentrated, but at least it creates that sense of a more balanced country. And the big things can be done from here.
But this is the place where Whitehall meets the rest of the country. I’ve called it the nerve centre for a rewired Britain. Or if you think about it in terms of the day-to-day kind of challenge around growth, it will be the situation route for growth where we all get around the table, mayors with all of the team of the Whitehall departments, so we get those decisions made more quickly, we break through the logjams, and we get things done.
So it is much more profound, I think, than people have worked out so far. It’s not just a new office. Through this place, power is going to flow, energy is going to flow, new ideas are going to come through, the region’s going to play back their ambitions here and the team is then going to say, right, we’re behind you, we’re going to make things work. That is a different way of running Britain. That is what I’m committed to do as Prime Minister and I’m so grateful to everybody for making this day happen at the end of my first week and now let’s get to work everybody. Thanks so much.