Ninety Labour MPs demand Manchester HQ for industrial push

Ninety Labour backbenchers are urging Prime Minister Andy Burnham to relocate the command center for national industrial policy to Manchester. The group argues that the government's plan to rebuild the UK's manufacturing base will collapse unless it is driven from No 10 North, the prime minister's new outpost in the city.

The warning comes as the government prepares to deliver its first budget under Chancellor John Healey. Healey pledged a new age of industrialisation at Labour's conference last month, linking industrial growth to his promise of good growth in every postcode. However, the backbench group believes the state has lost the detailed knowledge of industry required to execute such a strategy effectively.

A briefing paper from the group, released on 2026-10-26, details how decades of deregulation have left civil servants unable to plan comprehensively. The document states that the state has acquired behaviours that inhibit reindustrialisation and is too slow to make decisions. The MPs want Burnham to pass a Reindustrialisation Act that sets clear job creation targets and holds ministers accountable against them.

The group proposes giving First Secretary Louise Haigh responsibility for the effort and basing it at No 10 North, which opened in July. They also want to transform the National Wealth Fund into a Reindustrialisation Development Corporation focused on providing capital to rebuild UK industry.

Andy MacNae, the MP for Rossendale and Darwen, chairs the group. He said he doubted neither Burnham's nor Healey's commitment but pointed to inertia within the civil service. MacNae argued that growth policy must deliver jobs to the places that need them most rather than focusing on cities already doing well. He cited the recent nationalisation of British Steel as a sign that the effort spans procurement and education.

Steve Yemm, MP for Mansfield, said many in Whitehall still view industrial policy as dangerous nostalgia. He called for Burnham to challenge those assumptions. Lorraine Beavers, MP for Blackpool North and Fleetwood, added that Whitehall does not fix a problem unless it is told to. She expressed enthusiasm for the potential impact on constituencies like hers but stressed the need for direct instruction from the top.