Leeds should "exploit" devolution to its full says Liverpool's Metro Mayor

In day three of the Yorkshire Evening Post’s look at one of the hottest topics in politics, Emma Ryan finds out why Steve Rotherham thinks he is on the right track as Mayor of the Liverpool City Region.

On the Merseyside rail network, the first of 52 new trains have just been unveiled.

To be delivered over the course of the next year, the fleet has been designed specifically for the Merseyrail network in the Liverpool City Region.

Transport

The scheme follows the failure of plans to introduce a tram to the region - something long-campaigned for in Leeds.

After a period of testing, the new trains will soon replace the current 40-year-old fleet, part of a half a billion-pound programme of investment, and will help create 1000 new jobs and boost the local economy by more than £70m a year.

They will also be able to carry 50 per cent more passengers, have cycle spaces and unassisted access for disabled people.

Steve Rotherham, Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, says the rail scheme meets the needs of local people and represents vast progress in light of a failed tram plan years earlier.

However, he adds, it would not be happening without devolution for the Liverpool City Region region, which encompasses six local authorities and 1.6 million residents.

Aside from football and The Beatles, Liverpool was historically famous for its docks, shipping and manufacturing but a decline in those industries led to massive job losses and by the mid 1980s, Liverpool had some of the highest unemployment rates in the UK.

“One of the reasons I think people identified that devolution would be an opportunity for us is that we had the opportunity for a tram but it ended up with the local authorities falling out,” Mr Rotherham said.