Andy Burnham to Hold First Meeting at New No 10 North in Manchester

Andy Burnham will hold his first meeting at the new No 10 North in Manchester later on Friday.

The branch of Downing Street in the North West will form part of the prime minister's aim to shift power from Whitehall and Westminster to regions across the country.

Ministers Lucy Powell and Louise Haigh will also operate regularly from the new site, with up to 300 civil servants expected to join them by the end of next year.

On Friday in Manchester Burnham will chair a meeting of the National Economic Council, a cabinet committee first launched in 2008 to respond to economic challenges around the UK.

The meeting will bring together senior ministers and regional mayors to "put devolution at the centre of the government's mission to make Britain better".

Ahead of that meeting, the prime minister 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."

He added: "The days of Whitehall resisting devolution are over, for good."

Strategic decisions about devolution and local economic growth will shift from the Treasury and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to No 10 North, although both departments will have input in these areas.

Angela Rayner, whose constituency is in Greater Manchester, is also expected to work from the new site for the first time on Friday.

Burnham's first day as prime minister in No 10 North will include talks with business leaders, including representatives of the Federation of Small Business, the Confederation of British Industry and the British Chambers of Commerce, about how to generate growth and investment.

Labour wants to create a plan that would pull from existing devolution strategy and local growth policy, to allow civil servants, mayors, councils and businesses to work together more closely.

Burnham's first week in power has seen him make a series of interventions aimed at easing the cost of living, including announcing a 20% cut in business rates for pubs, social clubs and live music venues from April next year.

However, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has criticised his ambitions for being "too small".

Speaking on Thursday, she urged him to tackle high energy costs for businesses as well as a gap in defence funding.

"When you are mayor of Manchester, you are handed a big pot of someone else's money, and you decide where to spend it," she said.

"I'm sure this is great fun. It can make you very popular. But it is not the same as being prime minister.

"Andy Burnham needs to do better. He is behaving like he's still the mayor of Manchester. He is now the prime minister of the United Kingdom, he needs to start acting like it."