While standing inside Bury market this morning for an interview with the BBC, the Chancellor appeared to get a bit confused as to where he actually was.
Referring to the “world-famous Burnley market” live on air, he appeared to mistake Bury with Burnley during the television interview – despite the Lancashire town being 20 miles away.
It seemed he mixed up the names of two towns, one in Greater Manchester and the other in Lancashire, whilst being interviewed by BBC Breakfast presenter Ben Thompson in Bury.
The error came after Mr Thompson told Mr Sunak he originated from the Lancashire town.
Answering a question that had been put to him about the Conservative party’s ‘levelling-up’ agenda, Mr Sunak said: “It is not just about being in the North by the way, we’re here in Burnley but if you are growing up in a village in the South West or even on the South Coast, people want to feel the opportunity is there for them, wherever they happen to be.
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“I put it down to two things.
“One is having pride in the place you call home and a lot of what we announced yesterday, the levelling-up fund – bids like Burnley market, world-famous Burnley market, benefiting from £20million of investment.
“That’s going to create jobs. It is about improving the everyday infrastructure of our communities.”
Mr Sunak was also put on the spot about his decision to cut air passenger duty (APD) for domestic flights in his Budget ahead of the COP26 Climate Summit in Glasgow – which is kicking off imminently as world leaders descend on Scotland for the world’s most important climate talks to date.
“Of course, it is right that we are consistent with our environmental goals so let me just talk a little about that.
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“Aviation in general only accounts for about 8% of our overall emissions, and of that 8% a fraction – just 4% or 5% – comes from domestic aviation, so it is a tiny part of our emissions.
“So, yes, we’re doing this to support domestic aviation, and regional airports will benefit from this, but we are also introducing a brand new band for ultra long-haul travel.
“Those who fly the furthest will pay the highest rates of APD, that’s consistent with our environmental objectives, that’s a new band that will come into force, and, actually, yesterday the independent watchdog said that our plans in the round will reduce carbon emission and move us further along the path to net zero.”
Featured Image – BBC
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IKEA announces decision to close popular Greater Manchester site
Emily Sergeant
It’s the end of the road for one of IKEA’s popular Greater Manchester sites.
The Swedish furniture giant has announced its decision to close its ‘Plan and Order Point’ over in Stockport in a couple of weeks time.
The store – which is located in Stockport town centre’s Merseyway Shopping Centre – launched to huge success back in March 2023, and at the time, was the second of this ‘test and trial’ format to open in the UK, becoming a smaller space dedicated to kitchen and home planning, as well as ordering items.
IKEA says the closure comes as a result of ‘valuable learnings’ which plan to take this conceptual format in a direction to ‘better suit the needs of UK customers’.
IKEA is closing its close popular Stockport site this month / Credit: Jon Super (via IKEA)
Since the opening of the Stockport Plan and Order Point, IKEA claims it has seen an increased demand for Click and Collect services, a desire by customers to shop a smaller selection of home furnishing accessories, as well as the ability to return goods to physical IKEA units, and this is all something which the current location is unable to offer.
Learning from this change in consumer habits, the company says its future Plan and Order Point openings – including in those in other northern cities like Hull and York – will offer these services.
IKEA says it also remains ‘committed’ to trialling new formats, such as its upcoming small stores, one of which will open in nearby Chester later this year.
Luckily for IKEA fans, the retailer has confirmed that its major Greater Manchester store in Ashton-under-Lyne, as well as the neighbouring store in Warrington, will remain open as normal, offering all the services available at Stockport and more.
The Swedish furniture says the closure comes as a result of ‘valuable learnings’ about customer needs / Credit: Jon Super (via IKEA)
In addition to the upcoming opening of a smaller store in Chester, IKEA has revealed that the North West continues to be an area of interest for future expansion.
“After careful evaluation, we’ve made the difficult decision to close the IKEA Plan and Order Point at Merseyway Shopping Centre,” explained Salma Azad, who is one of IKEA’s Area Managers.
“In the two years since opening, we’ve taken valuable learnings, including how our customers prefer to meet IKEA, and we’ll take these insights into future openings, to serve shoppers in a more impactful way.”
Thanks to last year’s Click and Collect expansion, Stockport residents can now pick up purchases from Tesco Extra Stockport and Tesco Extra Stretford, as well as the Manchester store and the upcoming small store in Chester.
Stockport Plan and Order Point’s final day of trading will be on 16 June.
Fundraiser launched to find ‘beautiful soul’ now missing for almost three weeks
Daisy Jackson
An urgent fundraiser has been set up to help in the search for a Manchester man, who has now been missing for almost three weeks.
Adeo Alston, 25, was last seen in Fletcher Moss Park in Didsbury on Friday 16 May.
Greater Manchester Police have been conducting urgent searches for missing Adeo, who was last seen wearing long blue denim shorts, a green short-sleeved button up shirt, and white Adidas trainers.
But now his loved ones have launched a GoFundMe to help them raise the costs for a private investigator.
It’s hoped that the £1.5k target will pay for the investigation fees, with the ‘hope of finding and getting him home safe’.
When Adeo was last seen, he was reportedly heading in the direction of the River Mersey after socialising with a man and a woman.
GMP have been investigating, checking CCTV, bank records, phone activity and appealing for witnesses – but have so far found ‘no leads’.
The GoFundMe, by Adeo’s friend Charlie Watkinson, says: “We’re now running out of options.
“It’s becoming increasingly concerning as the days pass and we’re all so worried and miss him so so much.
“We are now resorting to a private investigator – the funds we raise from this will pay for the investigation fees, with the hope of finding and getting him home safe.
Georgina Pellant -
28th October 2021 
