Andy Burnham's new No10 North declared 'open for business' ahead of PM visit

Andy Burnham's new No10 North declared 'open for business' ahead of PM visit New PM Andy Burnham announced his ambition to create a northern branch of Downing Street in Manchester last month to stop power being hoarded in Westminster Andy Burnham is set to visit his new No10 North base for the first time and declare it the "situation room" for making Britain work better. The new Prime Minister announced his ambition to create a northern branch of Downing Street last month to stop power being hoarded in Westminster. It will initially operate from Manchester city centre’s Heron House, which is also the home of the UK’s intelligence and cyber agency GCHQ’s North West hub. Visiting the site on Friday, Downing Street said the PM will revive Gordon Brown’s National Economic Council set up in 2008 in response to the global financial crash. It will bring together senior ministers and mayors from across the region, they added. Ahead of Mr Burnham’s first visit, his senior ally and top Cabinet minister Louise Haigh said: “No10 North is open for business.” The new PM, who hopes to base himself at the site at least one day a week, said: "For 40 years, power and resources have been sucked into the centre, and too many communities have felt forgotten, without the attention and investment they deserve. “No 10 North will change that by putting more power into every postcode across the entire country. “It will be the situation room for making Britain better - the place we use to get power out of Westminster, into the hands of people at a local level, so that they can turn things around. The days of Whitehall resisting devolution are over, for good.” The No10 North visit comes after Angela Rayner, the newly appointed Housing Secretary, said the new PM had “hit the ground running” over the cost of living. A policy blitz in recent days has seen announcements including a VAT cut on energy bills, the reintroduction of the £2 cap on bus fares, and a cut in business rates. Ms Rayner told BBC 5 Live: “The Prime Minister's talked about giving people breathing space. And I think he's hit the ground running in terms of showing people that he gets it. “You know, he spoke without notes outside No10 and he spoke from the heart. You could see that, you know, the guy was like, he's thought about this for a very long time. He's been in Greater Manchester as the mayor. He's seen the challenges. He's seen the frustration as a mayor when he's trying to get powers. Try and deliver for people and he wants to remove that friction so that we can actually get things done.” But Unite’s general secretary, Sharon Graham, warns in a guest column for The Mirror today, the new PM has “one shot to change the fortunes of this Labour government”. She added: “To build a programme of hope, this Government must learn to embrace a different economic agenda. One where the working class are at the front of the queue, not at the back.”