Manchester would benefit more from levelling up with Tory Mayor, MP suggests

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

Manchester would benefit more from the Government's levelling up agenda if there was a Conservative Mayor in the Town Hall, a senior MP has suggested.

Sir Robert Goodwill, who chairs an influential House of Commons committee, said it "always works better" when you've got a Mayor from the same party as the Government.

Sir Robert also accused Andy Burnham of being more concerned with "political point scoring" and his own Labour leadership aspirations than delivering for the people of Manchester. READ MORE: Drivers will have to 'sprint' full length of train to get away on time in 'short-sighted' plan for Piccadilly station In an interview with the Northern Agenda podcast, the Tory MP said: "I think it always works better when you've got a Mayor from the same party as the Government, as we've seen with Andy Burnham and the Mayor of London, they're always trying to score political points rather than actually getting on with the job of delivering. "Both Mr Burnham and Sadiq Khan have ambitions, I think, to be the next leader of the Labour Party and therefore scoring political points is something that they probably feel is part of their mission to secure that job. "That does not always sit comfortably side by side with actually working constructively." The comments have inflamed arguments that there is an element of "pork barrel politics" when it comes to the levelling up agenda, with Tory areas often looked on more favourably for cash and support.

The £3.6bn Towns Fund for example has come under fire in the past after it emerged almost 90% of areas to win cash were represented by Conservative MPs.