The Opposition’s response has been measured. While questioning the affordability of the proposed devolution settlements, the shadow cabinet has stopped short of opposing the principle, recognising that public appetite for regional empowerment cuts across party lines. Polling conducted in the weeks following Burnham’s appointment suggests that voters in the North and Midlands are broadly supportive, while opinion in London and the South East is more divided, with some concerns about the fiscal implications for the capital.
Within Whitehall, the reaction has been more complex. Permanent secretaries, accustomed to the centralised machinery of British government, are grappling with the practicalities of dispersing decision-making authority. The Cabinet Office has established a dedicated devolution task force, and several departments are in the process of transferring staff and budgets to regional offices. The process is expected to take the better part of two years to complete, and insiders acknowledge that there will be friction, duplication and the occasional bureaucratic turf war along the way.
Burnham’s personal style has also marked a departure from his predecessor. Where Starmer was formal, lawyerly and deliberate, Burnham is instinctive, colloquial and visibly more comfortable in a pub than a lecture hall. His first Prime Minister’s Questions was notable for its relative lack of partisan theatre; Burnham answered opposition barbs with a dry, self-deprecating humour that drew laughter from both sides of the chamber. “I spent eight years dealing with bus operators in Salford,” he quipped in response to a pointed question about transport funding. “The honourable gentleman’s questions are considerably less aggressive than the ones I used to get from the Number 192 route.”
The international dimension of Burnham’s premiership is still taking shape. His first bilateral meeting, with the President of the United States, was described by both sides as constructive, and his early signals on defence spending and NATO commitment have reassured allies who had watched the turbulence of British politics in recent years with some anxiety. The European relationship, while not a priority for renegotiation, is expected to warm incrementally, with Burnham signalling openness to closer regulatory alignment in areas of mutual economic interest.
For the people of Leigh, of Wigan, of Greater Manchester, the sight of one of their own in Downing Street carries an emotional resonance that transcends policy. It is a reminder that the path to the highest office in the land does not have to run through Eton, Oxford and the Inns of Court. It can run through a comprehensive school, a polytechnic, a trade union office and a combined authority headquarters in a converted cotton mill.
Whether Burnham’s vision of a decentralised, regionally empowered Britain can survive contact with the realities of Treasury control, parliamentary arithmetic and the relentless news cycle remains to be seen. But the intent is clear, the mandate is fresh, and for the first time in a generation, the geography of British power feels as though it might be shifting.
