Mayor reveals his vision for 'Northern Arc'

RAILWAY TO POWER REGIONAL 'ENGINE'

- JOSEPH ΤΙΜΑΝ

ANDY Burnham has set out his vision for a 'Northern Arc' linking Manchester and Liverpool with a new railway line.

The Greater Manchester mayor told investors at an international property conference in France yesterday that the stretch from Merseyside to the Pennines will deliver more economic growth to the UK than the southern equivalent from Oxford to Cambridge.

Speaking at MIPIM, he said the 'missing link' is the new railway line between Manchester and Liverpool he has been lobbying for. It comes after the last Conservative government put £17bn towards the new railway line after cancelling the Northern leg of HS2. However, months after coming to power, Labour put the project in doubt after saying the funding was 'not practically available.