LONDON — Andy Burnham will make “significant” cuts to Britain’s civil service staffing in order to funnel officials into councils and mayoral bodies in England, the official leading the U.K. prime minister’s devolution unit has indicated to POLITICO.

Caroline Simpson, Burnham’s deputy chief of staff in “No. 10 North,” the Manchester outpost that he opened last month, said the office will draw up plans in the coming months to “transfer” civil service resources into mayoral authorities as they are handed more power.

Speaking to POLITICO Magazine for a major profile of Burnham’s project in her first interview since taking the role, Simpson said England remains “one of the most centralized countries in the Western Hemisphere. We have very little true devolution.”

Burnham’s Cabinet signed a statement last month which said No. 10 North would oversee a “major transfer of powers, resources and functions” from central to local government before the next general election, due by 2029. It promised to “build new career paths between central government and the wider public sector” and make the civil service “smaller and more strategic.”

Britain’s civil service has ballooned by 100,000 people in six years to around 550,000 following the Covid-19 pandemic and the U.K.’s exit from the European Union.

Simpson declined to say to what extent the overall headcount of civil servants will be cut to increase staffing in regional government. “I am not going to put a figure on what that is going to look like,” she said.

However, she added: “The intent behind [the Cabinet paper] — really moving significant resource from Whitehall and from the civil service into regions, into local areas — is absolutely part of our plan, our ambition, our mission here in No. 10 North.”

Burnham has said he wants all areas of England to have mayoral authorities in place by the end of 2028, and they are set to be offered the expertise of Whitehall officials where it is relevant and desired.

It is not yet clear how this movement of staff will work in practice. Officials plan to outline more detail in a paper alongside the Oct. 26 budget, which — as with a spending review in 2027 — will make clear the impact on Whitehall budgets.

Simpson said: “We’re going to develop that plan with the mayoral authorities over the coming weeks and months. It is going to be something that evolves, because the pace of devolution has happened quicker in some areas than others.”

Elsewhere, Simpson appeared to leave the door open to the possibility of councils using incoming economic freedoms to pay “rebates” directly to residents.

The idea from Ben Houchen, the Conservative Tees Valley mayor, prompted a rebuke from Burnham, who said a mayor could not be a “mini-chancellor of the exchequer.” However, Houchen told POLITICO this week that he had discussed the idea with Treasury officials since Burnham made his comments and believes it will be possible unless the government directly outlaws it.

Simpson said: “The PM is absolutely right — there’s going to be no ability to sit outside of the tax framework at a local level. That’s not what fiscal devolution is about. But flexibility about how that money is spent in a local area is going to be there … the absolutely technical ‘what does that flexibility look like?’ is going to have to be worked through.”

Asked if that flexibility could include handing money back to residents if local leaders decide it, she replied: “We are working through some of those practicalities at the moment.”

Simpson — who Burnham poached from her job as chief executive of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, where he was mayor for nine years — spent more than two decades as a nonpartisan public servant before taking her first political role as his deputy chief of staff.

She said becoming a political staffer was a “change” for her personally, but said she and the prime minister had decided it was necessary. “I’m really enjoying it,” she said. “It brings an ability to be even more directive and … get things done that I think is absolutely needed with the pace of change that the PM wants.

“The best way to deliver that, I felt and he felt, was to move into a deputy chief of staff role.”

Simpson said Burnham had never discussed the idea of No. 10 North with her as mayor. Recalling her appointment, she added: “It all happened very, very quickly.”

No. 10 North now has around 50 civil servants, said two people with knowledge of the planning, both of whom were granted anonymity to speak frankly. Several are still living out of hotels in Manchester and returning to London or elsewhere on the weekends. The office is expected to expand to up to 150 civil servants.

The office is based out of Heron House, a refurbished 1980s office block in Manchester city center, on a floor previously prepared for the cyber intelligence agency GCHQ. However, this is only a temporary base.

Burnham previously said he wanted to base the office at the Manchester Digital Campus in the city, but this will only be fully open in 2032. No. 10 North is unlikely to stay based at Heron House that long, said one of the two people with knowledge of the planning, so it will be looking for another base in the next few years.

Despite skepticism from some in Whitehall that the devolution project will be successful, Simpson, who is running the office day-to-day alongside its civil service Director General Sam Lister, said No. 10 North was “absolutely not” a gimmick.

“What we’re bringing is a different type of energy,” she added. “It’s not better. It’s not worse. It’s just different. That’s really the point about No. 10 North — to connect our places, connect devolution back into the heart of governing.”

Unlike 10 Downing Street, where Larry can come and go as he pleases, the high-security building in Manchester does not have a cat.

Instead it has the next best thing — a cutout image of Downing Street’s real-life chief mouser. “We’ve got a cardboard cat, which isn’t quite living up to Larry,” Simpson said.

Russia unleashed a barrage of missiles and drones across Ukraine early Thursday, killing at least 13 people and wounding dozens more.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the hours-long attack struck Kyiv and the surrounding region as well as Odesa and Chernihiv, damaging apartment buildings, a children’s hospital and a school in the capital. Twelve people were killed in Kyiv and another in the surrounding region, he said, with around 40 injured.

“Unfortunately, while Moscow is investing in ballistic missiles and escalation, such strikes do not always receive the response they should from the world,” Zelenskyy wrote on X. “As long as Ukraine does not have enough anti-ballistic defense, Russia will not consider peace seriously.” U.S.-made Patriot interceptors “cannot yet be replaced,” he added.

Russia’s defense ministry said it used air-, land- and sea-launched weapons to strike military facilities and warehouses. Moscow also claimed its forces had shot down 726 Ukrainian drones.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko declared Aug. 21 a day of mourning “in memory of the victims of the enemy’s massive attack on the capital.” Flags will be lowered and entertainment events banned as emergency crews continue working across three districts of Kyiv.

The barrage also put neighboring NATO countries on alert.

Romania’s defense ministry announced that a drone “entered Romanian national airspace” at 3:21 a.m. before crashing minutes later near Grindu “in an uninhabited area.” No casualties or damage were reported.

Poland meanwhile scrambled military aircraft as Russian strikes continued in neighboring Ukraine. The Polish military said it had activated available forces and assets, while ground-based air-defense and radar systems were put “in a state of readiness.”

LONDON — Britain’s Liberal Democrats are holding fire against Andy Burnham — for now.

The centrist party has studiously avoided criticizing the new Labour prime minister during his first weeks in power, instead pushing the same “constructive opposition” approach followed during predecessor Keir Starmer’s early stint in Downing Street.

“I like what he’s doing,” says 2024-intake Lib Dem MP Martin Wrigley. “I like the way he’s going, focusing on things that matter.” The question is: how long can it last?

A person familiar with Lib Dem Leader Ed Davey’s thinking, granted anonymity because their job does not authorize them to speak publicly, says the party hopes Burnham removes the “performative hostility” from Westminster.

“That style of politics really suits the populist parties, both on the left and the right, and it isn’t the sort of politics that we as Liberal Democrats want to do,” they argued.

But while not rocking the boat has landed well with Lib Dem MPs, there is still a call for a distinctive identity for the party in a highly competitive political environment, with Labour enjoying a “Burnham bounce” in the opinion polls on the left, and Tory Leader Kemi Badenoch’s personal brand on the up.

Duty of care

Davey — whose party enjoyed its best-ever result at the 2024 election but remains only just in double digits in national polls — has already made one big play in the Burnham era: being helpful on reforming social care.

The creaking social care system in England is a policy challenge governments of all stripes have failed to meet — leaving families with drained finances and cash-strapped local authorities plugging the gaps.

The Lib Dem leader, who cares for his disabled son, attended a virtual cross-party meeting after Burnham, whose own father is in a care home with Alzheimer’s, called for an open conversation on a fix.

This proactive approach has so far landed well with Davey’s troops. “I don’t think we’re going to sink the process if we don’t get everything we want,” says Lib Dem Shadow Commons Leader Bobby Dean. “If we can get cross-party consensus on one element, then we should get on with that element straight away.” 

Indeed, Mike Storey, the Lib Dems’ co-deputy leader in the House of Lords, says the party will “cooperate fully on social care … and we’ll do it with no strings attached.” 

The person familiar with Davey’s thinking laid out the approach, saying “People are put off” by opposition parties that “decide to just immediately say ‘oh, they’re terrible. They’re breaking everything again’” when a new government arrives.

Tom Lubbock, co-founder of polling agency J.L. Partners, agrees a conciliatory approach makes sense for now as “you just look a bit mad if you just go in studs-up within the first couple of months.”

But there’s some angst about making sure the Lib Dems clearly separate themselves from Labour.

Party of the countryside 

It’s not the first time the Lib Dems have tried to play nice with a Labour prime minister.

But Davey’s party soon found ways to differentiate themselves from the increasingly unpopular Keir Starmer.

After Starmer’s government changed inheritance tax rules for farmers, the Lib Dems spied an opening — dubbing it the “family farm tax” and ramping up campaigning.

The party has an “extraordinary niche and an extraordinary opportunity” to pose as the “Countryside Alliance arm of the Labour Party,” argues Lubbock — in other words, a progressive rival to Labour that rural voters can still get behind.

Burnham’s focus on reviving urban areas may lend itself to this approach, with Lib Dem figures poised to exploit any perception “Avanti Andy” is shuttling between London and Manchester, another major city.

Adam Dance, who represents the rural constituency of Yeovil, warns Burnham “can’t be a prime minister just for Manchester and the biggest cities” and says “he needs to understand rural areas.” 

Northern MP Tom Gordon also challenges the prime minister’s claim to represent northern England, arguing this “does feel slightly performative.” He reckons voters “don’t hate him [Burnham] yet” as “he’s not had long enough to make any really unpopular decisions.”

Left vs. right blocs 

Much of the Lib Dems’ success under Davey has come from wooing disillusioned Conservatives, targeting Tory-held seats in the home counties — dubbed the “blue wall.”

But winning remaining Tory areas next time round could be harder if the Lib Dems appear too closely aligned with a Labour government. 

Lubbock argues the Lib Dems will do “much worse” if supporters of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK “get on the Conservative bandwagon” to help defeat Labour nationally. That would be a mirror of the way some Labour supporters tactically backed the Lib Dems in 2024 to oust the Tories.

Though the Tories are still stuck below 20 percent in most polls, there are signs of recovery. YouGov data last month put Badenoch’s net favorability score at the highest of any Conservative leader for more than five years. Her position is undeniably more stable than it was 12 months ago.

While Lib Dems are optimistic Badenoch’s moves to the right on net zero and human rights will push more One Nation, centrist Conservatives in their direction, their Tory rivals sound bullish.

Tory MP Gregory Stafford, who saw off a challenge by the Lib Dems to win Farnham and Bordon two years ago, doesn’t think there are more Tories left for the Lib Dems to poach.

“All I’m seeing is those people coming back, not the other way round,” says Stafford about voters who bid the Tories farewell in 2024. Despite his narrow win, he thinks some of the 6,000 Reform UK voters in his seat will return — thanks to Badenoch.

“They see demonstrably in Kemi a leader that both they like as a person, but also speaks their language and speaks to the policies that they’re concerned about,” he argues.

As such, the Lib Dems may settle for a stronger attack against the right.

“People just don’t feel listened to,” says the party’s Scotland spokesperson Susan Murray. “When they don’t feel listened to, they are open to populism.” She argues that both the Lib Dems and Labour are “not succeeding in getting that message [of hope and opportunities] across.” Dean adds, “There’s a massive demand out there for a liberal party to make a bold offer to the country and at the moment that space feels vacated.” 

It’s a perceived weakness Stafford, the Conservative MP, plans to leap on at the next election. “The real danger for the Liberal Democrats is that they are seen as a patsy party that might champion local issues locally, but actually have nothing to say distinctive on the national stage,” he argues.

Roz Savage, who entered the Commons for the Lib Dems in 2024, recognizes the outfit has a “PR challenge that people think of us as the nice party.” Instead, a “bigger story” is required about a future Lib Dem government, she says.

“When we talk to Lib Dem voters in focus groups, they don’t really have a clear vision for what the Lib Dem party should stand for,” says Merlin Strategy’s Head of Research, Julian Gallie. People often back them as a vote against other parties, the political analyst says.

MPs also want the Lib Dems to reach beyond their traditional strongholds and target historically Labour areas — including Newcastle and Hull. Both have Lib Dem-run city councils, but are the kind of areas in which Burnham will fancy he can improve Labour’s standing. Meral Hussein-Ece, the Lib Dems’ Lords equality spokesperson, says the party must also do more to understand “the diversity of this country, which I don’t think we’ve done very well so far.” 

Lib Dem conference in Brighton next month will give the party a chance to lay a marker for the expected general election in 2029. But MPs want more than set-piece events to present a distinctive vision. 

“We do have to do better at utilizing the likes of social media and capturing the attention all the time, not just when we get the spotlight shined on us,” argues Gordon, the Harrogate and Knaresborough MP.

The Lib Dems, he says, have to drive “conversation on our own terms, rather than always having to just respond.”