PM Hints At Plan To Serve Up ‘Fantastic Future'

Boris says ‘transport is crucial, second is education’

- Jennifer Williams

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 in the coming days, as Andy Burnham and others spend conference lobbying ministers for a £lbn-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 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.

And while he declined to be pinned down on how successful that bid might be, Mr Johnson said those 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.

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 NW has got a fantastic future.