Andy Burnham delivers a speech at The People's Museum in Manchester, England, on June 29, 2026. —Jeff J Mitchell––Getty ImagesWestminster “is broken,” said Andy Burnham, as he laid out his policy plans in his first major speech since announcing his bid to replace Keir Starmer as Prime Minister.If Burnham’s planned leadership bid remains unchallenged, he’s likely to become Britain’s next leader on July 20, and he already has big ideas for structural change.Speaking from Manchester, where he served as mayor until he returned to Westminster last week, Burnham vowed to bring about the “biggest rebalancing of power our country has seen.”Burnham presented his vision for a paradigm shift in British politics with devolution at the center of his plans for economic growth, public housing reform, industrial policy, and education. “I am going to give Britain the circuit breaker it needs, by building a more collaborative politics in Westminster, by taking power out of the center and putting it in the hands of the people and places who can use it best,” he said. “The days of Whitehall fighting the devolution [of] power into the regions and nations are over for good.”Introducing "No. 10 North"One of Burnham’s core proposals is the introduction of a "No. 10 North."Named after 10 Downing Street, the official London residence and office of the Prime Minister, the additional base will be located in Manchester—a nod to Burnham’s efforts to decentralize power away from the capital.“No. 10 North will be the nerve center of a rewired Britain,” he said. “It will be the conduit through which we redistribute power and resources across the U.K.”Although headquartered in Manchester, Burnham said its purpose would be to empower regions across the North of England, from the Midlands to Yorkshire.“It will co-ordinate all parts of government at national and local level to agree [on] a long-term economic strategy and help all places set new growth ambitions,” Burnham vowed.He also pledged that every government department and agency would be required to “support strategic and local authorities with staffing and resources.”Furthermore, Burnham committed to "offering new opportunities to extend devolution in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland by taking power deeper down," but did not give further detail. The newly sworn-in Member of Parliament for Makerfield received mixed reviews in the immediate aftermath of his speech.“Burnham is right that the U.K. is far too centralised, but this was clearly a speech aimed at the English regions, with Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland treated as an afterthought,” said the Scottish Green Party.TIME has reached out to Burnham’s office for comment.Burnham to lead with "Manchesterism"Much of Burnham’s governing philosophy looks set to be rooted in what he calls "Manchesterism."“A new politics based on the exact opposite of the Westminster approach, place first, not party first, problem solving, not point scoring,” he said. “The Greater Manchester way is based on strong partnership between all sectors, public, private, community, voluntary, academic, faith, and our trade unions.”Burnham described Manchesterism as an attempt to take the lessons learned during his time as mayor and apply them nationally.Beyond devolution, he said the philosophy would shape economic policy, housing, infrastructure, and education.Among his priorities are placing universities “at the heart of local economies,” supporting innovation through start-ups and scale-ups, and committing to better infrastructure across the country.Central to that vision is giving mayors and local authorities greater responsibility to deliver change.“It comes from giving people the security of a good home and good employment, so that they can be as productive as possible from good mobility and an ability to afford the basics, and it comes from not, leaving everything to the market, but public intervention where necessary to set higher ambitions for towns,” he said. “This is Manchesterism.”A key achievement of Burnham’s during his tenure as mayor of Greater Manchester was freezing the city’s transport network single bus fares at £2—a move he has championed as proof he can deliver on tackling the cost of living crisis. Raising living standards through re-industrializationReindustrializing Britain is another central pillar of Burnham’s vision for the future of the country.He intends to formulate a 10-year plan to “support every region to set clear and credible industrial ambitions and provide the support to achieve them” arguing that many parts of the country have been left behind. “For too long, U.K. public procurement policy has been based on chasing cut price deals around the world rather than helping our own British-based suppliers become more stable and competitive,” he said. “No more. From here on, every pound raised from taxpayers will work harder for them, and that approach will apply fully to the Defense Investment Plan (DIP).”The speech comes after the U.K.’s top two defense officials resigned earlier this month, accusing Starmer of failing to invest enough money into the country’s DIP—a move which prompted the incumbent Prime Minister to strongly defend his spending plan.Burnham linked industrial renewal directly to long-term economic growth.“We are such an inventive country and, going forward, we can be the world's leading innovation nation,” he said. “This is the key to higher growth, and I want more world beating British manufacturers and service providers at the frontier of new technology and exporting to the world.”He also pledged to strengthen partnerships between local government and industry by “consolidat[ing] public and private investment at a place-based level and help all areas establish good growth funds.”Again, Burnham argued the strategy depends on fundamentally changing Whitehall.“I will back our scientists, technologists, entrepreneurs, and creatives, as I have done here, and show how Britain will be the innovation nation of the next decade,” he said.A "complete rethink" of educationBurnham called for sweeping changes to Britain's education system. He pointed to a recent report by former minister Alan Milburn, which found nearly one million young people aged 16 to 24 in the United Kingdom are not in education, employment, or training. “We need a complete rethink of how we support the next generation to succeed, and it has to start with the education system, the days of a school system configured entirely around the university route will be brought to an end,” Burnham said.Instead, he pledged to expand “the supply of 45-day work placements and apprenticeships" for young people, insisting that "university is great for those who want it, but when are we going to focus on the life chances of those kids who want something different? The country has not done that for a long, long time."Burnham has spoken about his own experience graduating from university only to have trouble securing a job, despite his degree.“They said to me, ‘Go there, because that will open so many doors for you in life.’ Well, my experience was I graduated [from the University of Cambridge] and came back here looking for a job, and I couldn't find one,” he told the Social Mobility Commission in March.Burnham relayed his difficulty finding a job in the media landscape compared to people he had studied with at Cambridge. “In the end, the only thing I could find was as an unpaid reporter on the Middleton Guardian, and that was my first work experience. It's not a job, because I wasn't paid,” he continued, relaying that he had to move to the south of the country in order to progress.“It wasn’t the institution that meant I was an unpaid reporter… it was parental connection,” Burnham said, highlighting the social mobility disadvantages facing many in the U.K.Pledge to oversee "the biggest council house building programme" since post-war periodBurnham said the U.K. is stuck in a “housing trap” and advocated for a revamp of the public housing system.He argued Britain's housing crisis is rooted in decades of declining council housing stock, leaving families trapped in the private rental market and placing growing pressure on public finances.“We are forced to chase rents in the private rented sector through the benefits system. When governments try to control these costs by freezing local housing allowance, it makes families homeless and places unfunded pressures on councils when they have to pay for temporary accommodation," he said. "Britain's housing crisis is having a ruinous impact on its public finances."Burnham said No. 10 North will oversee the biggest council house building program “since the post-war period” and pushed for a housing-first approach. “Everything starts with a good home, and this country finally has to put that at the top of its priority list,” he said.Elaborating on his vision, he added: “What this new era is going to be all about, a sense of hope, of possibility, that things are achievable that you might not have thought were before. And having this focus on council homes again, and building them in all parts of the country, it will represent a decisive shift to a more preventative, productive state.”