'We can be industrial capital once again'

Andy Burnham addresses the audience

GREATER Manchester mayoral candidate Andy Burnham believes the north can be a world leader in industry again.

Mr Burnham, who is MP for Leigh, visited University Campus Oldham yesterday in the last of a series of events that he has organised, where he has invited people to contribute to his manifesto for May's mayoral election.

He described it as a "genuine exercise in democracy" and spoke about renewable green energy and advance manufacturing, as well as encouraging digital creativity.

Mr Burnham said: "We need to re-industrialise Greater Manchester in the next 20 years. There was a long period of de-industrialisation. We need to aim higher again. We can be the industrial capital as we were in the past."

One of Mr Burnham's big ideas is the creation of a new UCAS-style system for apprenticeships. He has invited the government to pilot the idea first in Greater Manchester and provide partnership funding if he is elected

He outlined five points in a his plans which be believes can help regenerate Greater Manchester.

These are:

* Identifying the specific sectors which will drive the future prosperity of Greater Manchester and making them an explicit priority;

* Nurturing the development of GM-wide clusters around those industries, inviting universities, businesses big and small, colleges and other public bodies to join;

* Develop public-private funding streams to support the development of those clusters, working with local councils and other funding agencies;

* Ensure that Greater Manchester leads a much-needed revolution in technical education, starting with the establishment of a UCAS-style system of apprenticeships;

* Build a business culture in all communities of Greater Manchester with a new scheme to fund start-up units in schools to be made available to ex-students.

Mr Burnham, who was shadow home secretary until 2016, told the Chronicle: "People want Oldham to see the benefits from the regeneration, growth and employment felt in other parts of Greater Manchester. People often say to me here, will devolution make a difference for Oldham?

"If I win that will be my job and to show that I have listened to people here.

"I have deliberately chosen Oldham because I have seen some good work under way, which we need much more of if we really want to bring back high quality jobs."

Mr Burnham also said that Britain leaving the EU could be an opportunity to invest more in regional companies and with more controls on immigration arising, this could mean training young people for any resulting job shortages.

"The referendum result could be read in a number of ways," said Mr Burnham. "People in Oldham, and in Leigh, felt life wasn't working for them as it was for others, that they weren't getting a fair investment, the EU wasn't bringing new jobs they wanted to see.

"I understand why people voted to leave. It's a challenge to people like me to do more."

Mr Burnham's team said they would take away nine main ideas away from the Oldham event to be included in the manifesto, which will be published mid-March.

After outlining his five-point plan, members of the public were invited to ask questions before going away in groups to suggest their ideas for the borough.

Mr Burnham spoke at length about young people in the region but members of the public raised the issue of low-skilled jobs and how there are adults in Oldham who are not given much support because they do not have many skills or qualifications.

Councillor Shoab Akhtar, cabinet member for employment and enterprise, said: "We have been lucky to get a wealthy businessman, Norman Stoller, giving us money to set up an enterprise trust, which can give grants to young people to set up businesses.

"We need to be re-skilling our adults. Three out of 10 adults haven't got any skills or qualifications."

Labour Party member and activist Andrew Young (66), a retired accountant from Oldham Edge, was pleased when Mr Burnham was selected as the party's candidate for the elections in May.

Mr Young said: "There are lot of tensions caused by different communities not integrating fully.

"Some of it is caused by things being imposed on Oldham, such as the issue of refugees. They just get sent here because rent is cheap.

"But the real focus is on jobs. It's about giving people hope.

"There are low wages and low skills. That's not good. People haven't got hope like they used to have.

"I think Mr Burnham could be the one who can make that change."

The inaugural Greater Manchester mayoral election will be held on May 4 to elect the Mayor of Greater Manchester.