A meeting between the Chancellor and Andy Burnham has failed to provide assurances on northern transport investment, according to Greater Manchester’s mayor.

Mr Burnham has now called on Phillip Hammond to give concrete commitments to extensive rail upgrades at his speech to Conservative conference in Manchester next month, adding that the region needed to ‘see the colour of his money’.

The mayor was speaking after meeting with Mr Hammond - alongside Merseyside mayor Steve Rotherham and Teeside mayor Ben Houchen - to discuss closing the north-south divide.

He said he was pleased the Chancellor had held the meeting and said it showed he was ‘listening’, calling that a ‘step forward’.

But he said until firm promises were given on Transpennine electrification, a new east-west rail link and the expansion of Piccadilly station, he would be ‘keeping up the pressure’ - adding that Mr Hammond should use Tory conference to prove his commitment.

(Image: Sean Hansford)

“That’s an obvious opportunity, isn’t it, for the Chancellor to stand up in Manchester and really show that he’s committed to the Northern Powerhouse,” he said.

“He’s got a bid in for new platforms at Piccadilly, he’s got the concern we’ve expressed about electrification, he’s got the aspiration for new high speed lines across the north.

“We also raised housing, we also raised skills, and also the Northern Powerhouse more broadly. There’s plenty of ways in which now he could show the Northern Powerhosue is very much alive and kicking.

“We didn’t hear it today, but we hope to hear it in due course.”

The mayor added that he also pushed for nearly £5m of delayed homelessness funding, agreed by the government earlier this year, to actually be paid to Greater Manchester - as well as devolved control over local train stations.

But top of the meeting’s agenda was a firm commitment to previously-promised transport upgrades, following a suggestion from the transport secretary that full electrification of the Manchester to Leeds line may not be needed after all.

(Image: PA)

Mr Hammond had continued to insist at the meeting that government policy on Transpennine upgrades had not changed, said Mr Burnham, while also repeating Chris Grayling’s statement that some of the line may not need electrifying.

“So ‘which is it’ is my point to the Chancellor,” added Mr Burnham.

(Image: Mark Waugh)

“The government does need to clear this up, this uncertainty. He needs to provide clarity sooner or later with regard to transport investment in the North of England.

“The public here have waited long enough for improvement and it’s our job to speak for the people here and demand that investment and make sure we get what we were promised.”

The Chancellor launched a northern charm offensive this week after a summer of bad headlines for the government regarding the Northern Powerhouse, with both local leaders and former Chancellor George Osborne questioning the government’s commitment to the project.

Mr Burnham said Mr Hammond had ‘made a clear statement that the Northern Powerhouse is very much part of the government’s agenda’.

“But in truth we didn’t see the colour of his money today and until we do we will keep up the pressure,” he said.

The mayor said his position was not about ‘point scoring’ with a Conservative government but added that the north was currently being expected to accept ‘second best’.

“If he now follows through, we will be the first to congratulate him,” he added.