Andy Burnham’s plan to shift power out of Westminster has drawn cautious support from entrepreneurs and technology leaders, who welcomed his focus on business rates reform, regional growth, and technical skills while warning that delivery will depend on more than political architecture.
The speech, delivered in Manchester on 29 June, set out a 10-year mission to “rewire” Britain through deeper devolution, including a proposed No 10 North, stronger regional powers, a reindustrialisation agenda, high street renewal, technical education, and a recommitment to Labour’s existing fiscal rules.
That combination of local growth rhetoric and fiscal reassurance sought to reconcile two pressures that will shape any future programme: the demand for a more place-based economic model and the need to reassure investors, employers, and public bodies that reform will sit within credible spending constraints.
The response from scale-up, digital infrastructure, and entrepreneurship voices has been receptive, but conditional. The agenda recognises constraints that have weighed on local growth for years, including business rates, fragmented procurement, uneven skills provision, and the difficulty of building companies outside established investment clusters. The next test is whether those issues are addressed through practical policy rather than institutional redesign alone.
Andreas Adamides, CEO of Helm, Britain’s largest network of scale-up entrepreneurs, said: “Burnham’s rhetoric on business is encouraging, and reforming business rates would be a vital step towards backing local firms and entrepreneurs. But warm words are not enough. We now need to see whether the policies match the promises, and whether he is serious about putting business first.”
Business rates and local growth —
Business rates remain one of the most persistent pressure points for high street operators, hospitality groups, retail businesses, and local service companies. Burnham’s decision to place reform inside a wider regional growth agenda gives the issue a sharper economic frame: rates help determine whether town and city centres can attract investment, retain employers, and support new companies.
A workable settlement will need to balance relief for physical premises with the revenue needs of local authorities, many of which already face stretched budgets and rising demand for statutory services. The design challenge is particularly acute for companies moving from survival to expansion, where fixed property costs can rise before revenues become resilient.
No 10 North is intended to symbolise a shift in decision-making away from Whitehall. Its economic value will rest on whether mayors, councils, and regional bodies have the funding, data systems, procurement capability, and technical expertise to make faster and better decisions.
Ash Gawthorp, CTO at Scale Factory, said: “Burnham’s speech puts a lot of weight on the idea that growth should be shaped closer to the places it is meant to serve. There is a strong argument for that, especially when housing, transport, skills and local industry look so different from one region to the next. The harder part is making sure local areas have the capacity to turn more control into better outcomes.
“Number 10 North will only be as effective as the machinery sitting underneath it. Councils, mayors and regional bodies will need a much clearer view of local data, better links between public services, and procurement processes that make it easier to work with the right suppliers at the right pace. Otherwise, decisions may move closer to communities, while the systems needed to act on them remain slow and fragmented.”
That capacity question runs through the programme. Housing delivery depends on planning systems, land assembly, procurement, construction capacity, and utility connections. Transport reform depends on long-term funding and operational coordination. Skills reform depends on colleges, employers, and regional institutions working from a shared picture of labour market demand.
Digital capacity behind reindustrialisation —
Reindustrialisation is often discussed through factories, energy, infrastructure, and manufacturing supply chains. Modern industrial capacity is also shaped by software, automation, cyber security, cloud infrastructure, data management, and applied AI. Those systems influence energy demand planning, transport reliability, housebuilding programmes, public spending oversight, and the quality of local services.
Gawthorp said: “The reindustrialisation agenda brings this into sharp focus. Modern industry relies on software, automation, cloud infrastructure, cyber security and now AI. The same applies to utilities, public transport, housebuilding and high street regeneration. These are not abstract technology questions. They shape local demand planning, regional business growth, public spending oversight, and the quality of services people rely on every day.
“His emphasis on technical education, apprenticeships and work placements is important in this context. A reindustrialised Britain will need people who can build and maintain the systems behind it, from data platforms and testing environments to operational AI tools and secure digital services. Regional growth will depend on that practical capability as much as on funding or new powers.
“Devolution gives regions a chance to shape their own future, but the delivery burden should not be underestimated. If the ambition is good growth in every postcode, investment in data, digital infrastructure and technical skills has to be part of the plan from the start.”
The entrepreneurship community is also looking for evidence that a regional growth agenda would make it easier to start, scale, and exit companies. Access to capital, founder networks, commercial advice, procurement opportunities, talent pipelines, and exit routes all shape whether growth spreads beyond existing clusters.
Keith Griffiths, founder and CEO of The Entrepreneur Festival, said: “It is encouraging to hear Andy Burnham’s commitment to making Britain an ‘innovation nation.’ But if he is serious about delivering growth in every postcode he must start with the people who create growth: entrepreneurs.
“His speech touched on the importance of backing entrepreneurs, but the real test will be turning ambition into concrete policies that make it easier to start, scale and exit a business.
“Every successful company begins with someone willing to take a risk, create jobs and invest in their community. Now it is time for the government to support those entrepreneurs on every step of their journey.”
The fiscal backdrop remains a constraint. Burnham’s commitment to existing rules offers reassurance that the agenda is not being pitched as an unfunded spending surge, but the scale of the programme leaves difficult choices ahead. Council housebuilding, utilities reform, transport improvements, technical education, and high street renewal all require a combination of public funding, private capital, local delivery capacity, and long-term political discipline.
The reaction points to a practical benchmark for any rewired state: whether it becomes easier to work with, faster to procure from, better at using data, more serious about technical skills, and more responsive to the needs of growing companies.
Burnham has placed local growth at the centre of his economic pitch. The next phase will be judged by whether entrepreneurs, scale-ups, and regional employers can see the difference in the decisions that affect investment, hiring, and expansion.
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