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Number 10 North

One of the Prime Minister's first acts following his appointment in July 2026 was to establish No10 North in Manchester as a branch of the new Office for the Prime Minister and Cabinet.

This briefing explains what No10 North is and examines its current responsibilities. 

What is No10 North?

No10 North forms part of the new Office for the Prime Minister and Cabinet (OPMC), which was established in July 2026. The OPMC also comprises Number 10 Downing Street (which some journalists now call “No 10 South”) and “core Cabinet Office functions serving the [Prime Minister] and Cabinet”.

No10 North currently operates from Heron House in Manchester (an existing government building) but it is expected to relocate to Manchester's First Street development. 

First Secretary of State Louise Haigh has described No10 North as a government “department” which will “ensure that the places overlooked by Westminster for decades are given a real voice”. According to the BBC, Ms Haigh oversees No10 North in her capacity as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.

Andy Burnham first proposed No10 North on 29 June 2026 during a speech at the People’s History Museum in Manchester following Sir Keir Starmer’s announcement that he would resign as Prime Minister once a successor as Labour leader had been chosen. Mr Burnham said No10 North would support the English regions on three clear tasks:

• Reform of essential utilities
• Reindustrialisation
• And the regeneration of places

How much did No10 North cost to establish?

In response to a Freedom of Information request, the Cabinet Office published the following costs associated with the creation of No10 North:

• A replica No 10 door was moved from London to Manchester at a cost of £978.87
• A logo for No10 North was designed by an existing team at no additional cost, while physically branding the office cost £10,527.20
• Enabling works to the office space were completed at a cost of £8,799
• The IT and communications infrastructure for No10 North cost £18,718.23

The Prime Minister has defended the additional cost of No10 North on the basis that it also costs money for “everybody to troop down to London every time there’s a meeting when you need to make an argument about something”. He added that it was better to “have a North Pole that balances the South Pole of our country, where power will always be concentrated”.

Who works at No10 North?

The Prime Minister is expected to work from No10 North each week so that “decisions about the country’s economic future will no longer exclusively be made in Westminster”. The BBC says Andy Burnham will be there “at least one day a week”. Other ministers will also work from No10 North on a “regular basis”.

As with Number 10 Downing Street, No10 North can host ad hoc meetings. On 23 July 2026, the Prime Minister chaired the first meeting of the revived National Economic Council there. UK ministers including the Chancellor of the Exchequer and regional mayors were present.

In August 2026, the Prime Minister also convened mayors from across England for the first No10 North “virtual situation room”. He announced an initial pilot scheme in which every mayoral authority would receive between five and ten Whitehall civil servants on a six-to-nine-month secondment.

A blueprint for No10 North produced by the Re:State think tank recommended a workforce of as many as 300 staff within 18 months. According to the BBC, at least seven former employees of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority are based at No10 North. This includes Downing Street deputy chief of staff Caroline Simpson, who worked for the Prime Minister when he was Mayor of Greater Manchester. According to some media reports, the lead civil servant at No10 North is Sam Lister, who has been Director General for Industrial Strategy at the Department for Business and Trade since November 2024.

According to Politico, by late August 2026 around 50 civil servants were based at No10 North with that “expected to expand to up to 150 civil servants”.

What responsibilities does No10 North have?

In a machinery of government announcement on 21 July 2026, the government said that, the Prime Minister had established No10 North as the “engine room of devolution and good growth in every postcode, across government and the wider economy” to “ensure places are at the very heart of government strategy”. The same statement announced that certain “strategic functions” had been transferred to No10 North, including:

• local economic growth and devolution strategy from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
• local economic growth policy from the Treasury

These transfers were to “ensure that local economic growth policy and regional empowerment are no longer isolated from one another, establishing this No.10 North as the dominant driver of the UK’s economy”.

A Cabinet statement published on 31 July 2026, Rewiring the State, promised “a major transfer of powers, resources and functions from central government to elected mayors and local authorities in regions across England” before 2029. In an interview with Politico, Caroline Simpson said this intention was “absolutely part of our plan, our ambition, our mission here in No. 10 North”.

Devolution strategy

In a statement to the House of Commons on 1 September 2026, the Prime Minister said he had asked No10 North to “begin work with Cornwall council and its six MPs on a devolution deal with or without an elected mayor”. Mr Burnham also extended the same offer “to all parts of England without devolved power”. He said the First Secretary of State, Louise Haigh, would write to every MP “setting out how they can engage No. 10 North in the service of the places they represent”.

Local economic growth

The Prime Minister has described No10 North as the “situation room for growth” where “we all get around the table, mayors with […] the Whitehall departments, so we get those decisions made more quickly, we break through the logjams, and we get things done”.

Relationship with the rest of the UK

In a speech at the launch of No10 North, the Prime Minister said it was “as much for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as it is for the regions of England”, the “place where Whitehall meets the rest of the country […] the nerve centre for a rewired Britain”.

Separately, Mr Burnham told Rhun ap Iorwerth, the First Minister of Wales, that No10 North would play “a pivotal role working with the Welsh Government”.

In October 2026, the Prime Minister will meet the First Ministers of Wales and Scotland as well as the First Minister and deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland at another meeting of the National Economic Council to discuss how they “will drive good growth in every postcode across the UK”. It is not clear whether this meeting will be under the auspices of No10 North.

What has No10 North achieved?

In its first month, the government states that No10 North has:

• Put regional mayors at the heart of national economic decision-making through the National Economic Council
• Established a direct route for local leaders to raise barriers to growth with central government
• Driven action to support local control of bus services in the West Midlands
• Developed a new programme of support for mayoral authorities on skills, leadership, digital capability and growth delivery
• Brought together departments behind a shared mission to devolve power and unlock growth across the country

Not on the government’s list was an announcement on 30 July that mayors in England would receive a share of income tax revenues for the first time, part of reforms to be driven by “a strengthened No10 North operation, working with mayors, local leaders and other partners to remove barriers to growth, accelerate delivery and ensure government is better connected to communities across the country”.

Further reading

The office and functions of the Prime Minister