Government needs Northern Story warns Burnham
In his own inimitable and effective way, Andy Burnham gave a warning to the government this week: “You have to start to develop a northern story.”
The Greater Manchester mayor was speaking alongside his colleague from Liverpool City Region Steve Rotheram, and business leaders from across the Northwest, including DIB boss Frank McKenna, at an event in Westminster on Wednesday (14 May 2025) afternoon.
Ostensibly this public-private sector group of partners was in London – not for the first time, as Burnham reminded parliamentarians in the meeting – to lobby for the latest transport infrastructure upgrade iteration, ‘the Northern Arc’.
In summary, this project would see a high-speed link built, reducing the time connecting Liverpool through to Manchester by 20 minutes. The scheme offers a £15bn economic uplift, 22,000 new jobs, and a compelling passenger and freight strategy.
To read a comprehensive briefing of the Liverpool Manchester Railway proposal visit here.
This is the two mayor’s response to the “embarrassing” (Burnham again) cancellation of HS2, which has left much of the northern rail network in a state that can most generously be described as ‘antiquated’.
McKenna, whilst strongly backing the plan, also echoed Burnham’s frustration with the governments failure to signal big investments in the north – citing the chancellor’s speech announcing financial support for a Cambridge/Oxford arc as “frustrating” for northern leaders, given that similar investment in the Liverpool/Manchester corridor would give the country a bigger bang for its buck.
With a spending review underway, and an announcement on spending commitments expected in June, the rallying cry for the Northern Arc campaign is ‘The Time is Now’.
As Rotheram and Burnham emphasised, they are fed up having to trek down to London every few years with new plans to try and win long overdue infrastructure investment. (Steve was particularly cheesed off, as he had arrived late in the Capital, due to his train being cancelled).
“If the time isn’t now – then when?” asked Burnham.
This latest ask – a collaboration between two cities who are better known for their rivalry on the football field than buddying up – is not, according to the mayors – an end of the Northern Powerhouse approach to transport infrastructure upgrades. But it feels like it, a bit.
Yorkshire, in the shape of Lord Blunkett, West Yorkshire mayor Tracy Brabin and her South Yorkshire counterpart Oliver Copeland, are launching their ‘White Rose’ transport funding bid today (Friday).
Perhaps Tony Blair and John Prescott had it right after all with their Northwest Development Agency delivering strategically for the region, and Yorkshire First doing likewise over in the Pennines.
If the ‘Northern Arc’ gets support from the Treasury next month, it will not only be a win for Burnham and Rotheram, but for Labour too. Without a commitment to invest big in the north, it is hard to see how Keir Starmer and his team begins to win back the support lost to Reform in the recent parliamentary by-election in Runcorn, and the County Council poll in Lancashire.
Watch this space… or better still write to Darren Jones MP, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, 1 Horse Guards Rd, London SW1A 2HQ and tell him you support the ‘Northern Arc’.
