Burnham Sets Up “No 10 North” and Merges Whitehall Departments
Mr Burnham’s first full day brought structural change to Whitehall as well as policy. Downing Street confirmed a new Manchester base for the Prime Minister’s office — dubbed “No 10 North” — while the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology was abolished and folded back into an enlarged business department, with a new Cabinet-level artificial-intelligence minister created. The moves signal Mr Burnham’s intent to govern from beyond Westminster, even as unions warned of disruption.
The Manchester headquarters is the clearest early symbol of what Mr Burnham means by taking “power out of Westminster and into every postcode”, reportedly operating from a secure city-centre site. The abolition of the science department returns that brief to business and installs a dedicated artificial-intelligence minister attending Cabinet — a bet that AI and industrial strategy belong together. But the churn carries a cost: the FDA union, which represents senior civil servants, warned of “political turmoil”, noting how long it takes to bring ministers up to speed. For a government promising relief households will “feel quite quickly”, the risk is that a reorganised Whitehall slows delivery. Watch how fast the new machine actually moves.