The Northern Agenda

Our friends at the Manchester Evening News have taken over the Northern Agenda podcast today, sharing their reaction to Andy Burnham's by-election victory in Makerfield. Daniel J. McLaughlin is joined by the MEN's political writer Iram Ramzan and local democracy reporter Declan Carey to discuss the result, what it means for Greater Manchester, and what we can expect for the Labour Party and Reform...

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy joins Rob Parsons on a special episode of The Northern Agenda to discuss why she thinks the North is the perfect destination for the Olympics. The Wigan MP chats to Rob about regional inequalities, the Makerfield by-election, and reacts to Andy Burnham's thoughts on the state of the Labour Party. Candidates in the 2026 Makerfield by-election: Liberal Democrats - Jake A...

Fiona McCudden is joined by Manchester Evening News reporter Stephen Topping and Northern Agenda editor Graeme Whitfield in the morning after Hannah Spencer's victory in the Gorton and Denton by-election. They discuss how the Green Party won their first ever by-election, the anger felt toward Keir Starmer and the Labour government, and whether it would have made a difference if Andy Burham would h...

On a special edition of the Northern Agenda podcast, Rob Parsons is joined by Beth Abbit of the Manchester Evening News to reflect on a hustings for five of the candidates hoping to be the next MP for Gorton and Denton. The hopefuls were quizzed on issues like British values, child poverty, immigration, Andy Burnham and even their favourite Oasis song during an hour long debate at the office of th...

Government Minister, metro mayors, journalists and political advisors all gathered in orange hi-vis jackets at a rail depot in Leeds today to hear an announcement by Rachel Reeves they hope will be a game-changer for the North's transport links. Leeds MP Ms Reeves has promised the Government will set aside £45bn to pay for Northern Powerhouse Rail, the project designed to speed up rail links betwe...

The Northern Agenda podcast goes on location this week, broadcast from the home of the Liverpool Echo as Labour party conference comes to town. Rob Parsons and Liam Thorp are joined by Jo Timan of the Manchester Evening as they assess a 'flat', 'anxious' and 'confused' annual gathering of the party faithful, dominated by Andy Burnham's antics and the looming spectre of Nigel Farage's Reform UK.​As...

The Westminster circus is preparing to descend once again on the Liverpool docks as Labour holds its annual party conference at the city's big convention centre. It'll be five days of political debate, speeches and drinks events for the Labour faithful. But as Keir Starmer tries to rouse his troops and get his stuttering premiership back on track, there's a shadow being cast by a certain Scouse-ac...

​Rob Parsons and Liam Thorp are back discussing the week's political news from a Northern perspective and there are some big questions to answer.​As Bridget Phillipson and Lucy Powell compete to succeed Angela Rayner, does the next deputy leader of the Labour party really need to be a woman from the North? Why is Reform UK planning to axe Northern Powerhouse Rail? And what on earth is the matter w...

​This week, Rob Parsons speaks to Jim McMahon, a Northern politician at the heart of Government. In the Commons this week - before her tax affairs become engulfed in controversy - Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner made the case to MPs about what she described as "the biggest transfer of power in a generation out of Whitehall to our regions and communities" and an end to "the begging bowl, micro-...

Dr Rebecca Whittington is the online safety editor for Reach, the UK and Ireland's biggest commercial publisher. Since 2021, she has helped journalists across the country who are receiving online abuse, helping them to develop measures for social media to try and prevent further harassment. The Yorkshire-based journalist launched a new podcast 'Go Doxx Yourself' in July, which unpicks the human st...

​A few weeks ago on a visit to Leeds, Health Secretary Wes Streeting said there was "something really special" about the health ecosystem in the city - which boasts more NHS England and Department for Health staff than anywhere outside London. But the ambitions of health bosses in Yorkshire's biggest city go ​f​urther still. A few days ago its hospital trust set out a new strategy to cement its po...

Rob Parsons looks at a story playing out in the North that sits squarely in the middle of two huge issues Keir Starmer and the Labour government want to be judged on at the next election: economic growth and the net zero agenda. In the coming days the Hull-based firm Vivergo Fuels will find out whether it has a viable future, or whether it will have to start the process of laying off its 160 emplo...

For a lot of football fans around the country, the season is getting under way this weekend. But in South Yorkshire and on the Lancashire coast, two sets of fans will have a very real sense of trepidation that their clubs are about to disappear. Sheffield Wednesday and Morecambe don't have much in common in terms of their football histories, but are both in dire financial trouble and face sanction...

There's still several years until we're likely to get another General Election, but it's no longer a stretch to consider the possibility of Nigel Farage as Prime Minister and Reform UK as the ruling party. Until very recently however, we had precious little evidence of how and what Reform would actually do in power, since they had very little experience of actually running anything. All that chang...

This week, Rob Parsons and Liam Thorp digest the big news that could get us closer to the truth about the violent clashes between police and striking miners four decades ago that are still a source of huge anger in parts of our region even now. Plus Liam tells us about his trip on the new form of transport that's been gliding about the streets of Liverpool​. ​ And there are some worrying new stats...

With Oasis' Manchester gigs the talk of the town, even senior politicians like Commons Leader Lucy Powell can't resist making groan-inducing puns about the Gallagher brothers' classic songs. But with the five Heaton Park concerts generating tens of millions of pounds, how can we ensure the wider community benefits? And Liam tells us about his Oasis experience standing in front of Boltonian icon Ve...

​It's hard to believe a law that came into effect 200 years ago is still in force today. And on the podcast this week, Liam Thorp explains why the repeal of the cruel Vagrancy Act - which dates back to 1824 - can't come soon enough. Rob Parsons looks into why university leaders are trying to persuade the Government about the vital economic impact international students have on towns and cities in...

This week we're marking exactly one year since Keir Starmer and Labour won ​t​he 2024 General Election. But what's the last 12 months of a Labour government meant for the North, has ​S​ir Keir lived up to his promises or have things just got worse? That's what ​Rob and Liam are discussing on this week's episode, as they reflect on the good and bad of Starmer's first year (including some policies t...

With Liam Thorp off this week, Rob Parsons spends today's episode looking into one of the perennial bugbears of politicians across the North: potholes. They're a big issue for voters - and the new Labour government has told local councils they must publicly report on what they're doing to keep our roads fit for driving by June 30 or risk losing their share of an additional £500 million of funding....

Why are so many private hire taxi drivers in the North of England licensed in Wolverhampton - and what's that got to do with the grooming gangs scandal? Rob Parsons and Liam Thorp have a Northern take on this week's big report into child sexual exploitation in this week's Northern Agenda podcast as they take a look at the big political stories across the region. There's also the fascinating case o...

Rachel Reeves gave her long-awaited spending review statement setting out where she and Keir Starmer are going to be spending their money between now and the General Election.  But which of the Chancellor's announcements will have the biggest impact on the North? Which Northern town got more mentions than anywhere else? Which Labour MP produced a cringeworthy display of sycophancy and which Labour...

This week Rob and Liam dissect the big announcement by Chancellor Rachel Reeves of a multi-billion pound cash bonanza for the North's transport services, what it'll mean for people who want to get about the region and why it feels very different to when Rishi Sunak announced the exact same thing less than two years ago. And ​R​ob has an interview with ​Wes Streeting ​w​here he quizzed the Health S...

​This week Rob Parsons speaks to one of the leading voices in the region, if not the country, on the all-important issue of how we can ensure everyone has a chance to succeed in life regardless of their background. The concept is also called social mobility, and in 2010 a body called the Social Mobility Commission was set up to hold the country and the Government of the day to account on whether t...

This week ​on the Northern Agenda, Rob and Liam chat about the new buzzword for the North, replacing the 'Northern Powerhouse' and 'levelling up'. What does it mean and why does it matter? Rob reports back from a big-money property and development conference in Leeds where Northern politicians are desperate to make connections with investors, but it turns out so are the people running our big foot...

The Northern Agenda podcast is back, bringing you more weekly insights into the big issues affecting the North of England. This time, Rob Parsons is joined by new co-host Liam Thorp, political editor of the Liverpool Echo, to talk about the biggest politics stories in the North from a Northern perspective. Rob and Liam look at how Nigel Farage's Reform UK have been getting on now they have their f...