British prime minister Andy Burnham is hosting Ireland’s Taoiseach, Micheál Martin, in Manchester on 18 September 2026. It is their first official meeting since Burnham took office and the first visit by a foreign leader to “No10 North”.

The government presents Manchester as part of an effort to move some Downing Street business to northern England. In preceding days Burnham hosted Canadian prime minister Mark Carney in Liverpool and NATO secretary-general Mark Rutte in Oxford.

The announced agenda includes trade, security, support for Ukraine and cooperation with the European Union during Ireland’s presidency of the EU Council. The statement describes objectives, not an agreement already signed.

The United Kingdom and Ireland remain linked by trade, energy, the Common Travel Area and the Good Friday Agreement. Ireland is the UK’s sixth-largest trading partner; the Dublin–London route is, according to the UK government, the busiest intra-European air route.

After the No10 North meeting the leaders are due to visit an Irish community centre in Greater Manchester. That underlines people-to-people ties; it does not replace any joint documents that may follow the talks.

Trade, security or institutional commitments should be judged after texts are published, not from the agenda issued before the meeting.

Image: Manchester Town Hall / Wikimedia Commons. The civic building, not No10 North and not the Burnham–Martin meeting. Cropped to 16:9.

Source consulted: UK government — Taoiseach of Ireland first international leader to visit No10 North; Government of Ireland — Department of the Taoiseach.