LONDON: British Prime Minister Andy Burnham officially opened his new northern office on Friday, promising “a different way of running Britain” as he seeks to reverse decades of centralization of power in England.Burnham, who succeeded Keir Starmer as prime minister on Monday, unveiled “Ten North” in the northwestern city of Manchester and promised that power would “flow” from London’s Whitehall administration area to stimulate economic growth. “This is not just a new office,” he told downtown staff. “This is where Whitehall meets the rest of the country.”The former Greater Manchester mayor said the prosperous city-region was outperforming the UK’s national performance in every area, including economic growth, providing a model for the rest of the UK. He aims to work at Ten North at least once a week, dismissing criticism that it is a “short-lived gimmick”. Burnham insists: “It creates a sense of a more balanced country and that great things can be done from here.”However, devolution experts seem unconvinced. Academic and policy consultant Alan Trench told AFP that “decentralization” is “an approach taken even in very centralized countries and does not in itself imply any transfer of power”. “At best, it displaces public sector jobs and the lives and incomes of those who hold those jobs.”The United Kingdom – which includes England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland – undertook major constitutional reforms in the late 1990s, establishing devolved parliaments in Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast. London also gained a directly elected mayor and a scrutinizing parliament. But experts say Britain itself remains one of the most centralized countries in Europe, despite the creation of regional mayors and other institutions over the past decade. “Nowhere in England is there any devolved legislative power,” Trench points out.Nicola McEwan, a professor at the University of Glasgow, said devolution in the UK had been “very asymmetrical”, with London largely seeing it as being held back by things “happening elsewhere”.Burnham experienced the limitations of the current system during his nine years as Manchester mayor. Now in London, a minister told parliament this week that he had ordered departments including the Treasury to “target the transfer of overall strategic functions” to Ten North.McEwan said giving North Ten a strategic role was “positive” but success would still depend on Whitehall agreeing to work together. However, Michael Keating, professor of political science at the University of Aberdeen, pointed out that “in order to solve the problem of centralization, you create a central government department to decide exactly who gets what, which is very ironic”. Under “real” power, “you can get out of their way,” he said.Others noted that the move to redeploy civil servants was neither bold nor novel. Burnham’s spokesman acknowledged this week that around 80,000 government staff are already working in north-west England. Burnham met nationalist leaders from Scotland and Wales on Thursday and made little mention of further devolution beyond ruling out backing an independence referendum.(This is a report from Agence France-Presse)
