As Conservative Party conference kicks off in Manchester once again, the Prime Minister has promised a major transport announcement in the coming days to lift the spirits of those seeking a ‘levelling up’ deal for the city region.
Speaking to the M.E.N. during a visit to Gorton’s HideOut youth centre, Boris Johnson said he would be making some ‘very big announcements’ about northern transport links, as Andy Burnham and other local leaders spend conference lobbying ministers for a £1bn-plus levelling-up deal.
At conference this week Tory MPs and critics alike will be looking for more detail on what the Prime Minister truly means by ‘levelling up’.
Greater Manchester’s own bid, which the M.E.N. will explore in more detail tomorrow, features a major request for public transport investment, as well as more control over skills funding and a major wave of investment to create a northern ‘golden triangle’ for science and technology, including on the Oxford Road corridor and on the border of Bury and Rochdale.
While declining to be pinned own on how successful that bid might be, the Prime Minister said those three areas were central to his own ideas for the agenda.
The Prime Minister also thanked people in Greater Manchester and the wider North West for their ‘forbearance’ during last year’s myriad of different local lockdown restrictions.
But he refused to be drawn on whether he has any regrets about the way the region was treated - saying simply that there will be ‘plenty of time’ to go over the decisions that were taken at the time.
M.E.N: Andy Burnham is going to be quite visible at your conference -
Boris Johnson: “I just met him. He gave me a warm welcome to Manchester. It was great to see him.
“And I think that whatever my quarrels may be with Andy about some things, I think we are both agreed that Manchester’s got a fantastic future and the North West has got a fantastic future.
"Its great to be back here. I remember coming here two years ago and we looked at North Manchester General Hospital and we looked at the Nightingale wards there, the way it was run.
“And I said it was like asking a Premiership footballer to play on a ploughed field - and that’s now changing. I’m pleased to see the regeneration that’s going on.”
So how optimistic should Andy Burnham be about securing his ‘levelling up’ bid?
“We will work with Andy, as we do with all regional, local representatives on their visions and there are amazing things happening in Manchester.
"The key things for levelling up are infrastructure, education and high technology, right? Those are the things that can make a huge difference.
“And if you look at what we’re doing with Manchester, we’re supporting the cycle lanes, £50m investment in that, we’re improving the roads and bridges. But we'll also be making some very big announcements, which I think will gladden the heart of Andy and everybody else, about the links between the whole of the North West and the North East."
Will this be during conference?
“I will be saying something at conference, but the detail will be spelled out in the course of the coming days.
“When I was running London I saw the difference good mass transit can make, and good transport links.
“Transport is crucial, number one.
"Second is education. And we’re putting money into places like this one, helping transform kids’ lives, help them deal with issues in their crucial, formative stages. We’re opening new free schools, four new free schools in Manchester. But what we’re also doing is try to give people the skills they need.
“It’s got an amazing university, Manchester, a fantastic student body. It’s got a very very buzzing scene with students and young people but we also need to be investing in skills and adult skills.”
Adult skills investment is part of Greater Manchester’s bid. Should they be optimistic about that?
“We’ve got the lifetime skills guarantee so anybody who needs a Level 3 qualification [A-Level or equivalent] - and you haven’t got one - whatever your age, you can get one and get the skill for the job you want.
“Last point, technology. This is an incredible place for technology. I think Manchester is one of the only cities in Europe that has a fintech unicorn [financial technology start-ups worth more than $1bn].
“And there is a real thing happening here.
“So we’ll be talking to the mayor’s office about what we can do to help.”
Are you going to actually be meeting the mayor at conference, apart from today to say hello?
“I don’t think so, to be totally honest... I don’t want to set a hare running. I think- I met him, I think we’ve done it. It was, it was fine.
“So I, I think Manchester's part in the Northern Powerhouse remains incredibly important - and increasingly important. And it’s got a great future."
We had a lot of changing Covid rules and restrictions here this time last year that made people very angry. Is there anything you regret about the way that was handled?
“On Manchester and what the North West has been through, I really want to say a massive, massive thankyou to all your readers, to everybody who endured privation, difficulty, the hardship that they went through, not being able to see their loved ones for so long.
"It was an unimaginable time for this country and I thank the people of the North West for their forbearance.
“It was absolutely essential.
“I also want to thank them for getting jabbed, getting vaccinated. Huge numbers. The percentages are extraordinary.
“And that’s made the difference. That’s allowed us to open up in the way that we have and that’s allowed the economic growth we’re now seeing.”
Would you do those local restrictions again in the same way, and the tiering systems again in the same way, having had time to reflect?
“There’ll be plenty of time to go over what we... we acted on the basis of the best advice and evidence we had at the time.
"What I can certainly tell you with my hand on my heart, if we hadn’t imposed restrictions, whether on Manchester or anywhere else, I’m afraid not only the toll would have been a lot worse, but the economic consequences would have been much worse too, and that’s my absolute passionate belief.”
That was Andy Burnham’s point though last October, regarding tier three: it was going to economically damage us if you didn’t provide a fair level of financial support to our businesses and workers.
[Long pause.] “You know. I’m sure there’ll be plenty of time to go over the whys and wherefores of what we did.
“We were acting to save life and I just, I appreciate the sacrifice people have made in this whole city, and this whole region.”
