UK PM Burnham to chair economic council from new Manchester hub

Prime Minister Andy Burnham will chair the inaugural meeting of the revived National Economic Council in Manchester on Friday, formally launching a new northern headquarters for UK economic policy. Regional mayors are being given a permanent seat at the table, marking a deliberate shift of decision-making power away from Westminster.

The NEC was originally established by Gordon Brown to coordinate the government’s response to the 2008 financial crash, meeting twice a week to manage banking bailouts. Burnham has repurposed the body to pursue long-term growth, bringing together ministers, mayors, business leaders and trade unions depending on the agenda. "When I entered Downing Street, I told staff that the era of fighting devolution is over," Burnham wrote. "No one in government loses when power is shared."

The new operation, dubbed No 10 North, will be based at Heron House in Manchester’s city centre. Burnham will work from the building weekly, joined regularly by senior ministers including Louise Haigh, Lucy Powell and Angela Rayner, alongside teams of relocated civil servants. The site will be led by senior civil servant Sam Lister.

For businesses and investors tracking the UK market, the structural overhaul signals a potential change in how major infrastructure and regeneration projects are approved and funded. Burnham stated the Manchester hub is intended to "drive reindustrialisation and growth across every postcode of the UK". He argued it will "remove barriers to regeneration, from council house building to public transport infrastructure" by forcing Whitehall departments to align behind local plans.

Despite these ambitions, the government faces scepticism about whether the operation will translate into tangible economic convergence. Burnham recently created a powerful new prime minister’s department in London, led by Haigh, creating an apparent tension with the Manchester devolution agenda. Dave Penman of the FDA union noted that while the structural changes are welcome, relocating staff is a major undertaking, and Burnham must prove his ambition "to achieve equivalent living standards across all the regions and nations of the UK" is more than a geographical reshuffle.