All change at Number 10: What impact for Britain's nations and regions?

It’s the start of August and in the last of our look-ahead series to the rest of 2026, we turn to our regional specialists to assess how a change in leadership in 10 Downing Street might impact business, investment and infrastructure in three key parts of the UK: Wales, the South West and of course, Manchester.

The view from Wales (Matthew Ford)

The new Plaid Cymru government in Wales will view Andy Burnham’s coronation with a degree of optimism. 

There was a growing feeling that the Welsh Government was hitting a brick wall with Keir Starmer. A significant cross-party grievance has been on rail funding, or rather the severe lack of it from the UK Government. This was a grievance that was shared by Labour prior to their election win in Westminster, though was jettisoned once Sir Keir came to power. On promised further devolution to the Senedd, there has also been little to no progress.

Therefore, Andy Burnham’s focus on devolving power from London will be music to Plaid Cymru’s ears. The party is already developing serious plans for devolution of broadcasting and rail infrastructure to Wales and will hope to get a more receptive ear than they did under Keir Starmer.

Still, Plaid will have some concerns. On a recent trip to Cardiff, Mr Burnham demonstrated a poor understanding of the devolution settlement with Wales. When asked by the public about housing, social care, business rates, education, and other areas which are all controlled by the Plaid Cymru government in Cardiff, the new Prime Minister reeled off a series of policy solutions that would only apply to England.

So, while the new Welsh Government will certainly be supportive of Mr Burnham’s principle of political decentralisation, they will be hoping this concept applies to the law-making parliaments in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland and not just to the English regions that the new Prime Minister knows so well.

The view from the South-West (Drew Aspinwall) 

Geography and terminology matter in regional politics. 

Andy Burnham announced “good growth in every postcode” but given his penchant for the mayoral model, I wonder if the newly appointed Prime Minister will recognise that the South-West of England does not end just beyond the Gordano Services Welcome Break on the M5.

Whilst the West of England Combined Authority (WECA) sounds all encompassing, the authority only includes the council areas of Bristol, South Gloucestershire, Bath & North-East Somerset, with North Somerset set to join soon. All too often, politicians cite their visit to the South-West when they are actually referring to a fleeting visit to Bristol City centre. 

Elected ‘Metro’ Mayor and Labour stablemate, Helen Godwin will undoubtedly be quick to extend the new Prime Minister an invite to her WECA domain. So, with local government organisation models announced but several years away, and the pan-regional partnerships fully defunded, it will be up to the rest of the region – Wiltshire, Somerset, Dorset, Devon (including Plymouth and Torbay), Cornwall and the remaining part of Gloucestershire – to ensure the devolved squeaky wheel does not continue to get all the oil in terms of funding for vital infrastructure and investment.

Manchester’s verdict (Simon Donohue) 

The current mood in Greater Manchester is one of pride, hope and cautious optimism.

Pride because Andy Burnham’s rise to Downing Street suggests that the Greater Manchester model, rooted in devolution, public control of essential services and place-based growth, is now being treated as a serious national blueprint for "good growth in every postcode".

Caution because turning that model into a UK-wide programme will depend on delivery, funding and the ability to manage competing national and international pressures. It's also fair to say that Andy Burnham picked up the baton from others who had already started that work in Greater Manchester before him, and that there's still much work to do here too.

Our new Prime Minister has gone further than hinting at new policies, suggesting that the entire mechanism of doing politics is what needs an overhaul, and that, in theory, can only lead to more devolution in more places.

On a personal level, having worked in public sector communications in Greater Manchester for much of the former mayor’s tenure, it will be interesting to see how the lessons learned here will translate to other areas.

If I was a business, individual or organisation wishing to work with the public sector in the coming months and years, I’d be thinking about the opportunities and challenges presented by devolution, with a laser focus on affordability, social value and justice. Think about whether your plan will be perceived as good for ordinary people and if it won't, think again.