{
  "id": 1998064,
  "title": "Can Andy Burnham rewire the ‘Treasury brain’ to boost growth?",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/19/can-andy-burnham-rewire-the-treasury-brain-to-boost-growth",
  "topic": "finance",
  "section": "Finance & Markets",
  "published": "2026-08-19T18:46:22.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Guardian Business",
    "slug": "guardian-business",
    "url": "https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/aug/19/can-andy-burnham-tame-the-power-of-the-treasury-to-boost-growth"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Prime Minister Keir Starmer aims to reduce the Treasury's control over public finances and economic policy by creating a new No 10 department in Manchester. This move echoes previous attempts by Labour prime ministers Harold Wilson, Tony Blair, and Gordon Brown to bring long-term thinking to British economic policymaking. Burnham argues that having No 10 lead on growth will allow maximum power to unlock blockages in the Whitehall system. The new department, overseen by cabinet ally Louise Haigh, could help coordinate growth policies currently scattered across Whitehall, including housing, education, and planning. Critics, including former Conservative chief secretary to the Treasury David Gauke, argue that the Treasury's control over tax and spend will make it inevitably powerful, regardless of any new policy unit. The Treasury has lent a small number of staff to the new unit and its second permanent secretary has been working closely with the Manchester team, but Whitehall veterans point to its relatively modest resources thus far.",
  "summary": "PM wants to reduce department’s stranglehold on public purse and bring long-term thinking to economic policy Andy Burnham is far from the first prime minister to dream of taming the power of the mighty Treasury. Boris Johnson all but forced the resignation of Sajid Javid by handpicking his team; Margaret Thatcher favoured her economic adviser Alan Walters over Nigel Lawson, prompting the latter’s…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}