Andy Burnham urges new Prime Minister Keir Starmer to ‘move really quickly’ on Northern Powerhouse

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Andy Burnham has urged the new Prime Minister to commit early and “move really quickly” on the Northern Powerhouse.

Following on from the Labour party and Sir Keir Starmer‘s historic landslide victory at the 2024 General Election last week, bringing to an end 14 years of Conservative rule, Andy Burnham has called on the new Prime Minister to show his commitment to the North by delivering on the Northern Powerhouse scheme “really quickly”.

The Greater Manchester Mayor said during a BBC interview this past weekend that he believed Labour‘s election win could lead to a “great era for the English cities and regions”.

One of the ways the Labour Mayor, and former Labour MP for Leigh from 2001 to 2017, highlighted that the new Labour Government could usher in this “great era” would be to look pick up where the Tories left off on the proposal for an extra rail line between Liverpool and Manchester – which was formerly announced back in May to improve the region’s economy and connections.

Andy Burnham has urged Keir Starmer to ‘move really quickly’ on the Northern Powerhouse / Credit: Wikimedia Commons | Rory Arnold / Number 10 (via Flickr)

Rail journeys between the two North West cities currently vary between 40 minutes and an hour, but the new proposed ‘Northern Powerhouse Rail’ link would look to reduce this to 10-15 minutes, so travellers can simply “turn up and go”.

“Deliver what the Tories said they would do, but never did,” Mr Burnham urged the new Prime Minister during his interview with Laura Kuenssberg.

Speaking on the former BBC Political Correspondant’s current Sunday programme, Mr Burnham told Ms Kuessberg that he feels if the Prime Minister and his new Cabinet of ministers were to commit early to the Northern Powerhouse, then this could work to “lay the foundations for a second Labour term.

He added: “If people in the North of England see change come through in a Parliament, they will stick with this Government for the long haul”.

The Greater Manchester Mayor described the new Government as a “really exciting moment”.

“We now have the chance, after lots of turbulence in recent times, to have a serious Government focused on growth and delivery, without all of the psychodramas of the past Tory years,” Mr Burnham concluded.

As well as calling for a commitment to delivering the Northern Powerhouse rail link, Mr Burnham also declared during his BBC interview that he wants to work with the new Labour Government to build 1.5 million new homes in Greater Manchester.

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He also discussed the need to address rising poverty across the North West region.

Featured Image – Sky News