Andy Burnham and Steve Rotheram: their plan to rewire and reimagine our country beyond the Westminster bubble

This week Rob Parsons speaks to two political best mates who were born just a few miles away from each other in Liverpool and have gone on to be two of the best-known elected figures in our region. Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, and Steve Rotheram, mayor of the Liverpool City Region, have teamed up to write a new book where they share their formative experiences and set out an ambitious ten-point plan to rewire and reimagine our country beyond the Westminster bubble. Their book Head North, which is out today, sets out how both men were shaped in different ways by the Hillsborough disaster and how we can spread political and economic power throughout the UK, away from the centre of power in London and towards the North. The timing for the book is pretty interesting - both men are up for election in a few weeks and there's a General Election not far away where they might hope some of their radical ideas could become Labour policy. Find out what they thought of each other when they first met, how Keir Starmer might react to their radical ideas and their take on the row over Labour abandoning its £28bn-a-year green jobs pledge. The Northern Agenda is a Laudable production for Reach. It is presented by Rob Parsons, and produced by Daniel J. McLaughlin. You can subscribe to the daily Northern Agenda newsletter here: http://www.thenorthernagenda.co.uk/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices