The Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham has said a 40% cut to the budget of Transport for the North could be a sign of the Government wanting to "turn down the volume" on the region.
At his weekly press conference, Mayor Burnham said the slash in funding came as a "bolt out of the blue" - and "couldn't be worst timed".
He was speaking after Prime Minister Boris Johnson denied that there had been a cut to the Budget at Prime Minister's Questions.
The mayor said that the data his cabinet saw a few weeks ago clearly showed a decrease in funding, and that he doesn't seen how the Prime Minister won't have to correct the record.
He said: "The record I think will need to be corrected, because there has been a cut. If the PM was unaware of that cut, perhaps now it will be reversed."
Mayor Burnham added that there are fears that the budget for HS2 in the south is "set in stone" and that the Government is coming to the North for cuts."
The mayor also called for the tier system to be "consigned to history" as it was "not effective, was certainly divisive and caused considerable confusion".
He welcomed that the roadmap, which Mr Johnson outlined on Monday, set out a national approach to England coming out of lockdown but that it was not explicitly stated that the tier system would not come back in the future.
Mayor Burnham added that the Government should stick to the roadmap but consider "highly localised action" where there’s a new strain.
Figures shown at the press conference also confirmed that 155,000 people were still on furlough at the end of 2020 in Greater Manchester while £780m in Coronavirus Business Interruption Loans had been offered to companies in the region as of January 11, 2021.
A total of £1.95bn in Bounce Back Loans have also been offered to businesses as of the same date.
The figures also revealed that more than £200m in business grants have been paid out by Greater Manchester districts since November.
