The Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, has challenged central government to support transport as a driver for growth, as he accused Whitehall of prioritising cost-cutting over economic growth and consistently underserving northern transport.
Speaking at the Interchange 2026 event in Manchester, Mr Burnham asked: “Does Whitehall understand the critical importance of transport to a growing economy? In my almost decade as Mayor, I would have to say to you, no, I don’t think it does.”
He accused central government of failing to start by asking ‘How can this transport scheme maximise growth?’, saying instead that it starts by asking ‘How can we spend as little money as possible – or not do it at all?’”
“That mentality is why we got billions spent on a tunnel under fields in the Chilterns… but resistance to building an underground station in the fastest growing city region in the UK. Make that make sense to me,” he said.
In a pointed critique of national transport policy and decision-making, Mr Burnham implied systemic bias and short-termism in Whitehall that harms northern growth, and that Manchester’s growth is proof that transport investment works.
“We’re the fastest growing city region in the UK… double the rate of UK growth,” he said, and that it is “no coincidence that we have the largest light rail system in the UK, that has been the foundation for Manchester’s modern growth.”
Mr Burnham explicity linked transport infrastructure to economic expansion, giving data that supports Manchester as the standout UK growth area.
“Roads get you growth. Public transport gets you good growth,” he said, in which “Good growth is everybody being able to connect to the places where there are the most good jobs.”
He finished by calling for transport funding to be protected, and for a radical reform of how the UK finances transport, treating it as essential national economic infrastructure.
“Transport funding should be like a protected department in Whitehall,” he said, and that “You cannot have growth without it. Capital and revenue funding must be protected to allow city regions to be everything they can be.”
Furthermore, be backed devolution, saying that Whitehall never did have a plan for our cities, so only devolution created ambition for cities like Manchester, and that national government had effectively, he suggested, abandoned them.
“Before devolution, Whitehall had no ambition for the city regions of the UK. It let de-industrialisation happen, and didn’t replace it with a new ambition”, concluding by addng: “We set the ambition. We got the growth going.”
(Picture – Highways News)
