Andy Burnham went to Westminster to make his pitch - here's everything he said (2025)

The Greater Manchester mayor was in Westminster on Wednesday to make his pitch to the government as it prepares to set out its spending plans over the next few years

Andy Burnham has set out his vision for Greater Manchester's the 'most successful' decade since the Victoria era.

The Greater Manchester mayor was in Westminster on Wednesday (April 2) to make his pitch to the government as it prepares to set out its spending plans over the next few years. The Labour mayor called for 'a wholesale change in the architecture and culture of the British state' as he urged the government to hand more power to local leaders.

In a keynote speech at the Institute for Government, he set out his proposals to build more affordable housing, bring rail services under public control and boost opportunities for young people who don't go to university.

He talked about regenerating towns such as Ashton, Bolton and Middleton, following a similar model to Stockport.

He reiterated his calls for a new railway line linking Manchester and Liverpool - claiming this 'Northern Arc' between the two cities could rival the Oxford-Cambridge corridor - and demanded a replacement to the ill-fated HS2 plans.

And he called for 'major upgrades' to the M60 as part of the plans for the Atom Valley development which promises to create more than 20,000 jobs, including in advanced manufacturing, on the border of Bury, Rochdale and Oldham.

But he said he must get more power to make this all happen - and he accused civil servants of standing in the way.

He said: "Don’t get me wrong: we have worked with some brilliant civil servants who know that devolution is the best path to a more functional and fairer state – and their number seems to be growing.

"But I have had to spend far too much of my time as Mayor constantly remaking the case for devolution to Whitehall, time which could instead have been spent driving delivery or winning new investment."

Outlining the 'five foundations' of the new Greater Manchester Strategy - shelter, safety, mobility, opportunity and support - set to be published soon, Mr Burnham explained what he needs from the government to make it work.

It comes a couple of months before the government publishes its spending review, setting out its long-term plans.

He spoke of the housing crisis holding back the city-region and the struggle to create more affordable housing.

It comes as the number of new social homes built lags behind the number of homes bought by council tenants through the Right to Buy, meaning the city-region's social housing stock has shrunk in each of the last 15 years.

Mr Burnham said he would be seeking the powers, funding and land needed to turn this around from the spending review and promised to set a target date for Greater Manchester to have a 'net annual surplus of social homes'.

The mayor also talked about building new homes around railway stations on land owned by Network Rail, promising to set up 'at least' five new town-centre Mayoral Development Corporations, such as in Ashton, Bolton and Middleton.

Mr Burnham said he is asking for eight commuter railway lines to come into his new Bee Network by 2028 as part of the spending review too, with the first two brought under the 'tap and go' payment system by the end of next year.

The Labour mayor also made the case for the government to give Greater Manchester control of the budget for colleges so they can commission the kind of BTECs, T-Levels and Apprenticeships that the local economy needs.

As part of the spending review, he demanded that 'as a minimum', the Department for Education should let him 'test' out his plans to create a Greater Manchester Baccalaureate (MBacc) - an alternative to the university route.

Mr Burnham also suggested that Greater Manchester should be designated as the UK's 'Prevention Demonstrator' as he called for a new approach focusing on preventing crises rather than only spending money to fix them later on.

He cited the Live Well initiative which he described as a community-led health and wellbeing 'movement' which has got £20m as part of a trial that aims to get people back into work by removing 'the barriers that hold them back'.

The mayor also spoke of the importance of people feeling safe, citing Operation Vulcan which was launched by GMP to tackle crime in Strangeways as part of efforts to redevelop the area which could involve moving the prison.

And while he did not mention it in his speech, when asked, Mr Burnham told the audience that 'fiscal devolution' - including more tax-raising powers such as through a tourist levy - 'has to be on the table' at the spending review.

Mr Burnham said: "If all Whitehall departments buy in fully, I am confident we can accelerate our rate of growth in the next decade, holding out the enticing prospect of the forthcoming decade becoming the most successful for Greater Manchester than any since the Victorian period."