Ben Houchen: North's potential not being realised due to PM of Manchester

Andy Burnham is the first Prime Minister from the North of England since Huddersfield’s Harold Wilson.

Despite having the first northern Prime Minister since Harold Wilson, the North’s “attributes are not being realised" because of Andy Burnham’s focus on Greater Manchester, Lord Ben Houchen has said.

The Tees Valley Mayor told an event at the Conservative Party Conference on driving the economy in Yorkshire and the North East that Mr Burnham needs to realise that “the North is more than just Manchester”.

Prior to becoming Prime Minister, Mr Burnham was mayor of Greater Manchester for almost a decade.

Since entering Downing Street, he has set up a No10 North at GCHQ’s base off Albert Square in the city and invited Donald Trump to visit.

He’s the first Prime Minister from the North of England since Huddersfield’s Harold Wilson in 1976.

Yet Lord Houchen says Mr Burnham’s focus on Manchester is to the detriment of the rest of the North.

He said: “I’ve known Andy Burnham for nearly 10 years now and he’s a nice bloke, if you go to the pub with him you’d probably enjoy a pint.

“But for the last 10 years I’ve been saying this, but now he’s the Prime Minister I can say it to him and the Government. The North is more than just Manchester.

“For some reason, despite becoming Prime Minister, he seems to be running the country like he’s still the Mayor of Greater Manchester - not on behalf of the country, but directing everything to Manchester.

“The North is a wonderful place, the North has great attributes - dare I say it some of them not in Teesside - but they are not being realised because now we have a Prime Minister who is still a dyed-in-the-wool Mayor of Manchester, we’re not going to see any of it.

“We’re going to go back to the same tired argument where if anything happens in the North it’s actually Manchester. The North is such a better place than just Manchester.”