spoke to Mayor of G Manchester @andyburnham for #BBCNewsSix ahead of SR - he warned that infrastructure not enough, citizens need help with lower costs eg bus fares now, and that Covid had “levelled down” UK with North now facing “worse than 80s crisis” bbc.co.uk/news/business-…
Burnham: “north of England has been hit hardest by COVID because of failure to invest.. we could be looking at another period like the 1980s in the north of England, coming out of the COVID crisis, the 2020s could even be worse than the 1980s”
He did welcome the Green Book changes that should direct more infrastructure spending North, though detail on that tomorrow. Said the “bias against the North” goes back decades and he saw it as Chief Sec when he asked for similar schemes at the time of London Crossrail funding..
GM Mayor re HMT “inherent bias” - “always funds projects, in areas of country where economy is already strongest. It has never prioritise funding in parts of the country that most need that investment, very much the north of England. So if this is to change, then it is welcome”
Also gave clear hint that the landmark Northern infrastructure project - high speed transpennine “Northern Powerhouse Rail” isn’t passing BCR test : “I think on government's current test, theres a real risk that Treasury will say, Northern powerhouse rail doesn't pass the test.”
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