Failed franchises are causing daily misery and costing local economies billions. If this was London, it would be a national scandal
If you want to truly understand the full extent of this country’s present dysfunction, forget about the chaos going on in Westminster and instead spend a day trying to travel across the north of England.
By now, if the 2019 Tory manifesto is to be believed, we were meant to be experiencing the joys of being levelled up. Instead, people’s spirits are being downtrodden by a daily diet of rail chaos.
Andy Burnham is mayor of Greater Manchester; Steve Rotheram is mayor of the Liverpool city region
