Want the top news headlines sent to your inbox daily? Sign up to our FREE newsletter below Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

The North must unite to demand funding for better transport, Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham says.

Mr Burnham, one of the most important political figures in the North West, said he wanted to unite with the politicians representing Sunday Sun readers in the North East.

And he said: “We’ve hit a point where we need to rebalance this country south to north.

“We’re not just going to go on bended knee for that. We’re going to use our muscle and we’re going to make it happen.”

The Greater Manchester Mayor will join Newcastle City Council leader Nick Forbes and others at the Convention for the North, talking place at the BALTIC Centre, Gateshead, on Thursday.

He told ChronicleLive: “This is quite historic in many ways.

“I don’t think this has happened before, in recent times, where we’ve gathered not just political leaders in the North but also business leaders, civic and faith leaders as well.

“It’s a very symbolic and significant moment. I think we’re all feeling now that we won’t put up with things as they’ve been in the past, where the North is at the back of the queue when it comes to investment in transport or investment in infrastructure.”

Manchester has benefitted from the Government’s Northern Powerhouse policy, winning funding and control over local services in what are called devolution deals.

But Mr Burnham said: ”I’d like to see the North East getting the same levels of devolution as we have in the North West.

“If we all have devolution deals from the government then we can do more for ourselves.”

He added: “The time has come for the North to come together.

“The North has got so much unfulfilled potential and the time has come really for us to be given the help to fulfil that potential.

“And we will get there increasingly by speaking as one, using the political muscle that we have.”

The Labour mayor added: “Successive governments, including Labour governments, haven’t re-balanced the country in the way it should have been.

“If you look at Scotland, Wales and northern Ireland, they’ve all got investment through devolution.

“And it’s time for the North to work in a similar way.”