Andy Burnham has ruled out calling a snap general election after taking office, saying his priority is to deliver a version of Labour’s 2024 manifesto rather than delay government action. Speaking during the opening of ‘No 10 North’ in Manchester, he presented the new base as part of a wider effort to decentralise power and spread economic opportunity beyond Westminster.

Burnham plans to work from Heron House in Manchester once a week and said the project should support growth across all parts of the UK, including Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. He has told Scotland’s first minister, John Swinney, that another independence referendum is off limits, while Wales’s first minister, Rhun ap Iorwerth, pressed for further devolved powers; Burnham also acknowledged critics may dismiss the Manchester office as a gimmick.