'Put politics aside' was Andy Burnham’s message in Glasgow as Downing Street used the first National Economic Council meeting for the nations to press a familiar but still unresolved point: if the UK is serious about growth, power has to move further out from the centre. In a GOV.UK statement published on Friday 30 October 2026, the Prime Minister said he wants Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland working with the UK Government on models of regional empowerment that reach cities and regions as well as national institutions. (gov.uk) According to Downing Street, the Glasgow meeting brought together Scottish First Minister John Swinney, Welsh First Minister Rhun ap Iorwerth and representation from Northern Ireland. The setting matters. This was not framed as another Westminster set-piece, but as a public pitch for a different balance of power across the UK. (gov.uk)

The clearest line in the official brief is that devolution should not stop once authority leaves London. Burnham’s case, as set out by No10, is that passing powers from Westminster to Edinburgh, Cardiff or Belfast is only part of the job; the next phase is to send more control further down, into places and communities that know their own economies best. That sits with the wider Cabinet language on GOV.UK, which says local leaders should have more say over growth, services and the shape of their own areas. (gov.uk) For readers across the North, that argument will sound familiar. Towns and city regions have spent years being told to wait while decisions on transport, skills and investment are signed off somewhere else. The political pitch in Glasgow is that this time the chain of command should not simply end at the national capitals. (gov.uk)

Downing Street has wrapped that offer inside No10 North, the Manchester-based operation Burnham says will help shift decision-making out of SW1. Earlier official announcements said No10 North would work from Heron House in Manchester city centre, revive the National Economic Council and bring ministers and regional mayors into the same room so growth policy is not made in Westminster alone. Burnham also told MPs in September that the new set-up would drive the reindustrialisation of the regions in close partnership with the Treasury. (gov.uk) That is the bit businesses, councils and colleges will watch closely. In former industrial areas, talk of regional revival only carries weight when it shows up in new training routes, better connections and quicker decisions for firms trying to expand. (gov.uk)

There is money attached to the wider story, at least on paper. On 9 October, the Prime Minister’s Office announced £1 billion over four years for innovation clusters, with dedicated research and development funding for local leaders and a promise to help high-potential regions build world-leading industries. That announcement also said No10 North would link innovation clusters across the UK, starting with the Northern and Oxford to Cambridge growth corridors. (gov.uk) For northern England, Scotland and Wales, that raises the practical question people always ask after launch day: which places get backed first, and on what terms? Advanced manufacturing, energy, life sciences and smaller supply-chain firms all stand to gain if ministers follow through, but regions that have heard big promises before will want detail before they celebrate. (gov.uk)

Downing Street also tied the Glasgow meeting directly to Budget 2026, published on Wednesday 28 October. Treasury documents say the Budget extended the temporary VAT cut on electricity to 1 July 2027, prolonged the 5p fuel duty cut to the same date and launched a £2.6 billion Household Energy Payment for up to 20 million households in England, with devolved governments receiving their share through the Barnett formula. (gov.uk) There is a clear political message in that pairing. Ministers want devolution, cost-of-living help and regional growth to read as one joined-up project, not three separate announcements. For places well outside the London orbit, that is sensible enough in theory; whether it feels real will depend on how quickly local authorities, mayors and devolved administrations can turn headline policy into jobs and visible investment. (gov.uk)

What Burnham is really asking for is a working agreement across layers of government: Westminster, devolved administrations, mayors, councils and the public bodies that sit between them. The official line is that this is the next stage of devolution, with growth and opportunity built from the ground up rather than handed down from the top. (gov.uk) The case is easy enough to make. The harder part is delivery. Glasgow may have hosted the meeting, but the test now is whether places far from Westminster - and just as often far from Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast too - end up with real control over skills, infrastructure, investment and the future of their local economy. That is when people will know whether No10 North is a genuine transfer of power or just a better-branded version of business as usual. (gov.uk)