Newington's Chris Peacock looks at Andy Burnham's new political role.

It wasn’t a great week for the North of England when news came through that the electrification of railway lines was not going to proceed, while Crossrail 2 was getting backing from the Government – highlighting the huge disparity between transport spending in the North compared to London and the South East.

Quickly the Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, used the news as a rallying cry to attack the Government for “broken promises” to the North and was on the phone to the other Metro Mayors and leaders of northern cities to co-ordinate a response. Without delay a transport summit was arranged in Leeds for the end of August with the Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, Steve Rotheram, to galvanise business support for the battle for northern transport infrastructure.

Defiantly Andy Burnham said that “Manchester and the rest of the North is not going to just sit back and let this happen - and we will make the Secretary of State for Transport think again.”

Both the Transport Secretary, Chris Grayling, and the Minister for the Northern Powerhouse, Jake Berry, dismissed the Mayor as “scaremongering”, accusing him of “very effective political mischief-making” and “expanding his remit”.

To be fair, Andy Burnham is certainly expanding his mayoral remit by challenging the Government on rail infrastructure spending across the North of England. But it is not surprising that he has done so.

Of all the northern Metro Mayors, Greater Manchester’s is in the strongest position. It has the most devolved power, and the longest established institutional support structures behind it. For example, whilst Andy Burnham spent his first day addressing an army of staff at Churchgate House in the centre of Manchester, Steve Rotheram was trying to get an email address set up. However, this isn’t the only reason why Andy Burnham grabbed the opportunity with both hands.

As a high-profile MP, member of the Privy Council, former Secretary of State and two-time Labour leadership contender, Burnham has, in all of his roles, used his position to champion causes he believed in, irrespective of remit – the greatest example being his political leadership of the justice for Hillsborough campaign from 2009.

For Burnham, running as Labour candidate for Mayor of Greater Manchester was an opportunity to be more than the leader of the Combined Authority – a decision which was reinforced as he was becoming a more marginalised member of Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow cabinet.

The freedom and gravitas which Andy Burnham has obtained from moving from the House of Commons to Churchgate House in Manchester has grown day by day. Initially by his dignified and compassionate handling of the Manchester terror attack, then his calls for more of a say by the English regions in the Brexit negotiations and now by the northern transport infrastructure row. By unifying the political leaders of the North and vocalising their collective grievances around inequality with London and the South East, he has quickly made the role his own.

To understand how the new metro mayors may affect your business, contact Pavitar Mann at [email protected] or on 020 7234 3309.