Andy Burnham, the sole declared candidate to succeed Keir Starmer as UK prime minister, used his first major policy speech in Manchester on Monday to promise a “rewired Britain” built around a new prime ministerial outpost in the north of England. The address, delivered at the People’s History Museum, came one week after Starmer announced his resignation and with Burnham on track to enter 10 Downing Street as early as mid-July if no challenger emerges by the 16 July nomination deadline. Burnham told the invited audience that Westminster was “broken” and that Britain remained “one of the most over-centralised countries in the world”, framing his devolution plan as the “biggest rebalancing of power our country has seen”.

The centrepiece of the speech was “No. 10 North”, a Manchester-based extension of the prime minister’s office that Burnham said would coordinate long-term economic strategy across all levels of government and channel investment into the regions. He coupled this with a pledge to oversee the largest council house building programme since the post-war period, a reform of business rates to support high streets, and a reindustrialisation drive to safeguard domestic manufacturing in steel, defence, energy and food. Burnham also stressed that his plans would operate within the government’s existing fiscal rules, a signal that, according to City of London analysts, helped steady sterling and bond markets after earlier remarks by the former mayor had unsettled investors. He did not, however, set out how the housing programme or regional growth funds would be financed, nor did he address foreign policy or relations with the European Union.

Reactions from within the Labour Party ranged from relief to cautious endorsement. Several MPs, including former health secretary Wes Streeting and backbencher Nadia Whittome, welcomed the emphasis on hope and devolution, though Whittome noted that “big questions” remained on migrants’ rights, equalities and foreign policy. From Cardiff, Welsh First Minister Rhun ap Iorwerth said a No. 10 North would “mean very little to the people of Wales” and reiterated demands for fair funding and parity of powers with Scotland. The charity Shelter called the council housing pledge “right on the money”, while Australian political scientist Tim Bale, speaking to the ABC, described the speech as “broad-brush” and “missing a great deal of detail”. In continental Europe, Italian press analysis drew parallels with regionalist movements but stressed that Burnham’s “Manchesterism” — his term for business-friendly socialism — lacked the secessionist edge of past northern leagues.

Burnham’s ascent follows the rapid collapse of Starmer’s premiership, which was undermined by poor local election results in May, a scandal over the appointment of a former associate of Jeffrey Epstein as ambassador to Washington, and a series of policy U-turns. The former Greater Manchester mayor returned to the House of Commons via a by-election only a week before his speech, having spent nine years building a reputation for pragmatic public ownership, notably bringing buses back under municipal control. He did not take questions from journalists after the address, a decision that Italian and Swedish outlets described as an effort to control the message during a leadership transition that, in the absence of any rival, has the character of a coronation. The Labour Party’s National Executive Committee is expected to open nominations on 9 July, with the new leader — and prime minister — to be confirmed shortly after the window closes.