Mailwatch(ed) Forum

Yug wrote: ↑Mon Jun 29, 2026 5:52 pm

Burnham sets out plans to devolve power to regions with new 'No 10 North' in Manchester

Will it be 10 Coronation Street...?

As ideas go, it's not the worst idea and does have logic to it.

Spoilsport.

The Weeping Angel wrote: ↑Mon Jun 29, 2026 10:34 pm As ideas go, it's not the worst idea and does have logic to it.

If there's one subject that doesn't end in a shouting match with Reform type voters its the need to rebalance the economy. Apart from economic libertarian Tories. They don't make up a large proportionof the electorate but their wealth and interference drives bogus think tanks and the media behind their populist veneer. Paul Marshall, Christopher Harbone or Farage aren't in politics to pay more tax to fund urban regeneration in Sunderland. Or even Jaywick.

It's all about the promise. Just like in America, two weeks time, wait and see, you won't believe it...

I’m not sure entirely why, but I have an uneasy feeling that this “Number Ten of the North” notion is a load of old bollocks.

Populism.

That's all.

If he seriously wants to be a successful Prime Minister of the British government he's going to have to dial down this North-South divide bollocks. It might play well with the swivel-eyed twats in the Northern England sub on reddit, but they aren't even representative of the North, let alone the whole UK.

Yug wrote: ↑Tue Jun 30, 2026 8:48 am If he seriously wants to be a successful Prime Minister of the British government he's going to have to dial down this North-South divide bollocks. It might play well with the swivel-eyed twats in the Northern England sub on reddit, but they aren't even representative of the North, let alone the whole UK.

I have been wondering how the good people of Leeds and Liverpool and Newcastle might react to the 'Manchester is the North' shtick.

Abernathy wrote: ↑Tue Jun 30, 2026 8:33 am I’m not sure entirely why, but I have an uneasy feeling that this “Number Ten of the North” notion is a load of old bollocks.

Of course it is. Standard schtick for the professional northerner. You can move parts of departments, such as education in Darlington or the DVLA in Swansea, but moving government and the bulk of the civil service out of London is both illogical and economically unfeasible. But I bet it plays well with chippy Mancunians.

@Killer Whale

It's not just Northerners. I've already seen people from Devon, Cornwall, and Somerset saying they assume the South West will be ignored again. Burnham acting the 'professional Manc' isn't doing a lot for his image in the rest of England. God only knows how it's playing in Scotland, Wales and Norn Iron.

Yug wrote: ↑Tue Jun 30, 2026 9:53 am God only knows how it's playing in Scotland, Wales and Norn Iron.

It's got the Cybernats screeching for an independence referendum.

Boiler wrote: ↑Tue Jun 30, 2026 9:56 am

Yug wrote: ↑Tue Jun 30, 2026 9:53 am God only knows how it's playing in Scotland, Wales and Norn Iron.

It's got the Cybernats screeching for an independence referendum.

No change there, then.


I was referring to the normal people, not the vociferous online minority.

I'll bet it's not playing well on the drier side of the Pennines either.

Locally he's being regarded with mild amusement, though I have heard:

HS2 will be going to Manchester? Great for Manchester. What about the fucking Leeds leg?

No comments yet on moving Number 10 to Coronation Street yet.

Yug wrote: ↑Tue Jun 30, 2026 8:48 am If he seriously wants to be a successful Prime Minister of the British government he's going to have to dial down this North-South divide bollocks. It might play well with the swivel-eyed twats in the Northern England sub on reddit, but they aren't even representative of the North, let alone the whole UK.

Remembering that a compass has four, rather than two, cardinal points, I believe he is the King of the South East.

The precise geographical centre of the United Kingdom varies depending on whether offshore islands and Northern Ireland are included.

Including Northern Ireland: The exact centroid is located in the middle of Morecambe Bay off the coast of Lancashire, England.

Great Britain (Mainland Only): The geographical center of the main island is located at the Whitendale Hanging Stones in the Forest of Bowland, Lancashire (Grid Reference: SD 64188 56541).

Killer Whale wrote: ↑Tue Jun 30, 2026 9:15 am

Yug wrote: ↑Tue Jun 30, 2026 8:48 am If he seriously wants to be a successful Prime Minister of the British government he's going to have to dial down this North-South divide bollocks. It might play well with the swivel-eyed twats in the Northern England sub on reddit, but they aren't even representative of the North, let alone the whole UK.

I have been wondering how the good people of Leeds and Liverpool and Newcastle might react to the 'Manchester is the North' shtick.

That's a Top Trumps game only Shetlanders win.

Malcolm Armsteen wrote: ↑Tue Jun 30, 2026 9:31 am

Abernathy wrote: ↑Tue Jun 30, 2026 8:33 am I’m not sure entirely why, but I have an uneasy feeling that this “Number Ten of the North” notion is a load of old bollocks.

Of course it is. Standard schtick for the professional northerner. You can move parts of departments, such as education in Darlington or the DVLA in Swansea, but moving government and the bulk of the civil service out of London is both illogical and economically unfeasible. But I bet it plays well with chippy Mancunians.

If he's attending to his constituency duties every week, Andy can wing it that he's seeing this No 10 north idea through. Assuming its not forgotten after three months.

Youngian wrote: ↑Tue Jun 30, 2026 12:41 pm

Killer Whale wrote: ↑Tue Jun 30, 2026 9:15 am

Yug wrote: ↑Tue Jun 30, 2026 8:48 am If he seriously wants to be a successful Prime Minister of the British government he's going to have to dial down this North-South divide bollocks. It might play well with the swivel-eyed twats in the Northern England sub on reddit, but they aren't even representative of the North, let alone the whole UK.

I have been wondering how the good people of Leeds and Liverpool and Newcastle might react to the 'Manchester is the North' shtick.

That's a Top Trumps game only Shetlanders win.

I remember a Viz cartoon where Biffa Bacon moved to the North Pole so that everyone was now a Southerner and he could beat them up...

If you're going to have a major government office where the movers and shakers actually work and not just the HEOs and down, then it needs to be somewhere that the movers and shakers want to live. Gordon Brown tried moving the ONS to Newport and it didn't work. So Manchester isn't a bad choice, but it will look a bit "Manc Mafia cronies" to lots of people. Leeds too has done reasonably well, and maybe that would have been a smarter choice politically, combined with Leeds finally getting its trams.