'The days of Whitehall resisting devolution are over, for good.' That was Andy Burnham’s message as he opened No10 North in Manchester, pitching the new base as more than a rebrand. For the first time, a Prime Minister is working from No10 North and saying plainly that the old habit of hoarding power in SW1 has had its day. According to Downing Street, Burnham is expected to work from the Manchester base each week, with other ministers also set to use it regularly. For a city region that has spent years arguing for real control over transport, housing, skills and growth, that matters. If the promise is genuine, decisions should start being made closer to the places they shape.

Operating from Heron House in Manchester city centre, No10 North is being billed by government as a new situation room for growth. The aim is to bring local economic growth, devolution strategy and local growth policy into one place, so departments, combined authorities, mayors and business are not all pulling in different directions. That may sound like Whitehall wiring, but there is a clear northern argument behind it. Manchester, Liverpool City Region, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire and the North East have all made the same complaint in one form or another: too much time is lost waiting for permission from London, and too many local schemes slow down in the gap between political speeches and signed-off decisions.

The first major test comes on Friday, when Burnham chairs the revived National Economic Council in Manchester. Senior ministers and regional mayors will be around the table, with government saying devolution will sit inside its economic plans from the start rather than being treated as an afterthought. There is a deliberate echo here. The National Economic Council was first created in 2008 to deal with economic emergency. Bringing it back now is meant to show the same level of urgency around growth. This time, though, the geography is part of the statement as well as the policy: the room is in Manchester, and regional mayors are being invited in as participants rather than spectators.

Burnham framed the move as a long overdue correction after decades of centralisation. He said power and resources had been 'sucked into the centre' for 40 years, leaving too many communities feeling forgotten and short-changed. His answer is a government base designed, in his words, to put 'more power into every postcode across the entire country'. That line will ring true for plenty of readers across Northern England who have heard Westminster talk warmly about rebalancing before. But Burnham is making a bigger claim than better consultation. He is arguing that local leaders should help shape national economic choices from the outset, with Whitehall no longer able to sit on control simply because that is how things have always been done.

Louise Haigh, the First Secretary of State, called the launch a 'fundamental re-balancing' of where power sits in Britain. Chancellor John Healey made the same case in blunter political terms, presenting No10 North as proof that this government is prepared to give power away from Westminster rather than cling to it. Behind the language is a practical promise. The government says local growth policy, devolution strategy and delivery will now sit under a single plan, bringing together departments, combined authorities and business. If that works, northern towns and city regions should spend less time competing for attention and more time getting projects moving.

Before the first council meeting, Burnham is due to speak to major business bodies including the Federation of Small Businesses, the CBI and the British Chambers of Commerce. Downing Street says future National Economic Council meetings will flex depending on the issue, with business leaders, trade unions and other partners brought in where their experience can help get decisions over the line. That business angle is not window dressing. From Trafford Park to high streets across Lancashire, Yorkshire and the North East, firms have been clear that growth policy only counts if it reaches payrolls, premises and order books. A standing room where ministers, mayors and employers are working from the same brief would mark a real break from the stop-start approach that has too often frustrated investment outside London.

The launch also comes with a run of cost-of-living measures designed to show this is not just a constitutional shuffle. The government says VAT will be removed from domestic electricity bills from 1 October, saving a typical household about £45 a year. It says the £2 cap on bus fares in England will return from January 2027, while pubs, social clubs and live music venues will receive a 20 per cent business rates cut from April 2027. Ministers say nearly 32,000 venues will benefit, with a typical pub worth about £1,100 a year on top of the 15 per cent relief already in place. For readers in the North, that is where this story will be judged. A Prime Minister working from Manchester is a striking image, but the harder question is whether money, control and quicker decisions follow him through the door. If No10 North can do that, it will feel like a proper shift. If not, it will look like a smart address with the same old strings still being pulled in Westminster.