Manchester would benefit more from the Government's levelling up agenda if there was a Conservative Mayor in the Town Hall, a senior MP has suggested.
Sir Robert Goodwill, who chairs an influential House of Commons committee, said it "always works better" when you've got a Mayor from the same party as the Government.
Sir Robert also accused Andy Burnham of being more concerned with "political point scoring" and his own Labour leadership aspirations than delivering for the people of Manchester.
In an interview with the Northern Agenda podcast, the Tory MP said: "I think it always works better when you've got a Mayor from the same party as the Government, as we've seen with Andy Burnham and the Mayor of London, they're always trying to score political points rather than actually getting on with the job of delivering.
"Both Mr Burnham and Sadiq Khan have ambitions, I think, to be the next leader of the Labour Party and therefore scoring political points is something that they probably feel is part of their mission to secure that job.
Listen to the full interview in The Northern Agenda podcast
"That does not always sit comfortably side by side with actually working constructively."
The comments have inflamed arguments that there is an element of "pork barrel politics" when it comes to the levelling up agenda, with Tory areas often looked on more favourably for cash and support.
The £3.6bn Towns Fund for example has come under fire in the past after it emerged almost 90% of areas to win cash were represented by Conservative MPs.
There was controversy also over how the highest priority areas were chosen for the flagship £4.8bn Levelling Up fund, after deprived areas like Barnsley were rated a lower priority than Rishi Sunak's rural Richmondshire patch.
Labour frontbencher Louise Haigh told the MEN: "there is no real strategy behind levelling up at all, it's just picking areas to throw a bit of cash at so Tory candidates can have it on their leaflets."
A spokesperson for Mr Burnham said: “Sir Robert clearly has no idea what’s going on in Greater Manchester and is instead trying to score political points himself - and failing. The Mayor has taken action to reduce the number of people rough sleeping; to bring our buses back under public control and to significantly reduce fares; and has a plan for the city-region to be carbon net-zero by 2038.
“But he doesn’t have to take my word for the positive difference the Mayor is making, here are the words of his own Secretary of State - Michael Gove, speaking to the LGA this week: 'In Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham has also shown leadership. He has a clear mandate, and he has demonstrated what strong local leadership can do – on transport, where he has shown vision, on economic development, where he has been broad-minded and on innovation where he has taken political risks to support the private sector. Andy knows that his period in office will be judged on results – and that is at the heart of the devolution.”
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