![\"Caroline](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/0_JS411111958.jpg\")
<\/p>\nShe has been tipped to join the Number 10 of the north. But who is she, and what role has she played in Greater Manchester?<\/p>\n
Caroline Simpson and Andy Burnham(Image: MEN)<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a saying in Stockport town hall, said half jokingly, that working at the council is a passport to the corridors of power in Manchester.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s only a half joke because two recent two chief executives at Stockport<\/a> council both went on to lead the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA). One of those was the late Eamonn Boylan<\/a>, a man credited as being an architect of change for the city-region.<\/p>\n Click here<\/a> for the latest on Greater Manchester’s politics in our newsletter<\/strong><\/p>\n The other was Caroline Simpson, whose career saw her lead the transformation of Stockport town centre into one of the country\u2019s best corners to live and work. She joined the GMCA in 2024, and is reportedly set for a job leading the Number 10 of the north<\/a>, part of Andy Burnham<\/a>\u2019s plan to wrestle power away from London and bring some of it to Manchester.<\/p>\n Sources in Greater Manchester describe her as the perfect person for the job, which would sit at the heart of a Burnham government and has been tipped to \u2018rewire\u2019 the British state as we know it.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat Caroline brings is that she’s a fantastic networker, and she\u2019s very warm,\u201d said David Meller, a councillor who worked closely alongside Caroline Simpson in Stockport. \u201cShe brings an attitude where she\u2019s really outcome driven, and I think that\u2019s why she\u2019s worked really well with Andy Burnham. She\u2019s all about delivery.\u201d<\/p>\n Councillor Meller was first elected in 2018 and went on to serve as cabinet member for regeneration in Stockport, just as the town\u2019s transformation was really picking up speed.<\/p>\n Caroline Simpson was appointed Stockport council<\/a>\u2019s chief executive in December 2021, having previously served as deputy. She took over leading Stockport council at a time when the borough had been under no overall control politically for a decade.<\/p>\n In fact, it was only this May at the local elections that the Lib Dems<\/a> swept to power and gained a majority grip of the council.<\/p>\n So Caroline Simpson worked in an environment where relationships, compromise, and consensus was perhaps the most important part of her job – all traits which would be hugely important in the heart of government.<\/p>\n Caroline Simpson, chief executive of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority(Image: Greater Manchester Combined Authority)<\/p>\n Coun Meller said: \u201cShe just wants to get the best outcome for people and the organisation that she\u2019s working for, and to make progress and deliver.\u201d<\/p>\n The Labour<\/a> councillor believes it was Simpson\u2019s record in Stockport which helped her progress to the GMCA, along with a knack for overcoming problems.<\/p>\n He added: \u201cShe would drive a very hard bargain to deliver what\u2019s needed, and deliver it well.<\/p>\n \u201cI think she\u2019s canny enough to deal with the politics of going into a job like Number 10, I think she can see that in order to get stuff through you have got to work to build consensus and look for common ground across the political divide, and that\u2019s only going to help her.<\/p>\n \u201cShe led on much of the regeneration and the MDC [mayoral development corporation], she was on top of things and across the detail, rarely anything would ever slip past her.<\/p>\n \u201cDo not underestimate her either, she has that record of delivery.\u201d<\/p>\n Simpson has enjoyed a varied career in and out of public service. She studied Japanese and business at John Moores University in Liverpool, a city which she admits she \u2018really wanted\u2019 to stay in after graduating.<\/p>\n As it happened, she applied for a job at the Granby Toxteth taskforce, an initiative set up after riots in inner-city Liverpool.<\/p>\n Speaking to We Built This City podcast<\/a> about the experience, she said: \u201cIt was a really small project that was about connecting the business community along the waterfront in the south of the city, with the community, particularly with schools.<\/p>\n \u201cThat lit the fire in my belly really, about how actually connections in communities, particularly the voluntary sector and the business sector coming together for the good of a place, it sounds a bit tripe but it really did light something in me, and I absolutely loved it, and then worked in regeneration, development, placemaking, public service all my career.\u201d<\/p>\n She admitted in an interview with the Local Democracy Reporting Service last year she almost fell into a career<\/a> in the public service.<\/p>\n \u201cLike most young people, I fell into my first job which happened to be in the public sector. It was when I started to really work hard and feel very committed to what I was doing.<\/p>\n \u201cI am a proud public servant. I\u2019m absolutely an advocate for a rewarding career in public service where you can end a very, very busy day genuinely knowing you\u2019ve made an impact. It sounds a bit twee, but you have had an impact on people\u2019s lives. That\u2019s massively rewarding.\u201d<\/p>\n Regeneration jobs followed in the Black Country and Warrington, before a move to a Staffordshire housing association, and then on to Cheshire East council.<\/p>\n In 2016, she became Stockport council\u2019s economic growth director. Six years later, she was named its chief executive. She took on the role of leading Stockport council as a \u00a31bn regeneration scheme was getting started.<\/p>\n A regeneration project has brought huge changes to Stockport(Image: MEN)<\/p>\n This was powered through what is known as a mayoral development corporation (MDC) – a partnership between local leaders and the mayor of Greater Manchester, which was then Andy Burnham.<\/p>\n![\"Caroline](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/0_JS399293916.jpg\")
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