Burnham promises major power shift, eyes No 10 North plan

Andy Burnham used a speech in Manchester to begin setting out a plan for government that would shift power away from Whitehall, with a possible "No 10 North" in the city at the centre of his pitch as he prepares to become prime minister next week. The former Greater Manchester mayor and newly elected Makerfield MP said he wanted to "take power out of the centre" and hand more authority to local governments.

The speech also carried a hard economic message. Burnham promised a "circuit-breaker" for Britain and "good growth in every postcode", while pitching a 10-year plan to transform the economy. Council house building and welfare reform were among the policies discussed, putting housing supply and the benefits system at the heart of his programme rather than leaving them as side issues.

Burnham's argument for a stronger local state is being framed as a major rebalancing of power away from Whitehall, and his allies have described it as the biggest shift of power from central government in modern times. The Manchester location matters as much as the language: Burnham has spent a decade outside Westminster as Greater Manchester mayor, and that record is now being used to sell him as a different sort of Labour leader, one rooted in city-region politics rather than the machinery of London.

That claim is under pressure inside his own party. Burnham tried and failed twice before to become prime minister, and some Labour figures wanted a contest rather than a coronation, saying they did not know what he stands for. Miatta Fahnbulleh, his policy adviser, has been described as the brains behind his policy, a sign that the detail of his programme still rests on a small inner circle even as his support widens.

His path to Downing Street has been underlined by a rapid rise in Labour backing. Burnham won 322 Labour MPs in the first nomination tally on 14 July, later rising to 349, a level of support that leaves little doubt about the party's direction. Kemi Badenoch has already moved to challenge his proposals, setting up an early test of whether Burnham's promise to hand power outwards will survive contact with the demands of government.