Andy Burnham plans to move parts of No 10 operation to Manchester

<p>So far he has said little about the policies he intends to pursue, though allies say he intends to put devolution at the heart of them.</p>

<p>The UK has some of the worst regional inequality of any developed country, which Burnham argues is in part because political power is highly centralised in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk/london" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">London</a>. He has promised to govern according to a “Makerfield test” under which policies are measured against how they would affect his new constituents.</p>

<p>Burnham has previously argued for every area of the UK to be given its own devolved settlement, allowing all regions to elect a mayor should they choose. In a book published with the Liverpool mayor, Steve Rotheram, two years ago, he also called for a “basic law” that would require the government to equalise living standards across the country.</p>

<p>It is not clear, however, whether he intends to follow <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/b8aa5229-a333-43e4-86b5-19f289fdf89c?syn-25a6b1a6=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the advice</a> of one of his economic advisers, the former Bank of England economist Andy Haldane, who has called for splitting the Treasury and creating a new growth ministry in the north.</p>

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<p>While 10 Downing Street is arguably the most famous address in the country, successive prime ministers have complained that it is not suitable as the hub of a modern government. Staff members are often crammed into rooms dotted around the 300-year-old townhouse, while much of the work of government happens around the corner in the Cabinet Office, which is connected to 9 Downing Street by a passageway.</p>

<p>No 10 officials were preparing a plan to create a new office of the prime minister earlier this year, which would have merged aspects of Downing Street and the Cabinet Office, but the plan was scrapped after disastrous local election results for <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/labour" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Labour</a>.</p>

<p>The government has had more success moving other departments, however, with nine of them combining forces to open a new “economic campus” in Darlington. Construction began this year on a new five-storey office in the north-eastern town that will become the permanent base for 1,600 civil servants.</p>

Guardian Sport · Jun 24

Guardian Sport · Jun 24

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