Labour Backbenchers Demand Statutory Act to Force Manchester HQ

More than 90 Labour backbench MPs issued a briefing paper on Monday arguing that Prime Minister Andy Burnham's industrial strategy requires a new legal framework to succeed. The group contends that the government has lost the technical capacity to manage the economy effectively, leaving it unable to plan comprehensively or make timely decisions.

The paper states that the state has developed behaviors that inhibit reindustrialisation, including a lack of knowledge about specific industries and a slow decision-making process. It warns that without a statutory mandate, the pledge to create good growth in every postcode remains vulnerable to civil service inertia.

The MPs are calling for a Reindustrialisation Act that sets clear targets for manufacturing jobs and holds ministers accountable against those metrics. They want the oversight of this effort placed with First Secretary Louise Haigh and based at No 10 North in Manchester. Burnham established that outpost in July, and it has already begun handling growth policy.

The group also proposes transforming the National Wealth Fund into a Reindustrialisation Development Corporation. This body would shift its focus from general investment to providing capital specifically for rebuilding UK industry. The paper notes that the National Wealth Fund currently operates as an arm's-length body investing in promising businesses.

Andy MacNae, the MP for Rossendale and Darwen and chair of the group, said he had no doubt about the commitment of Burnham or Chancellor John Healey. He described a kind of inertia in government and economic orthodoxy that still views growth policy as being about cities that are already performing well. He argued that reindustrialisation must instead deliver jobs to places that need them most and produce goods that ensure national resilience.

Steve Yemm, MP for Mansfield, said that countries around the world are reindustrialising while Whitehall officials still treat industrial policy as dangerous nostalgia. He urged the prime minister to challenge those assumptions with full backing. Lorraine Beavers, MP for Blackpool North and Fleetwood, cautioned that Whitehall does not fix a problem unless it is explicitly told to do so.

John Healey will deliver his first budget on Wednesday. Labour's industrial strategy, published under Keir Starmer, identified eight sectors for growth including advanced manufacturing, clean energy, and defence. Healey promised a new age of industrialisation in his conference speech last month, inviting an apprentice from the Mersey ferry project to the stage.