LABOUR's candidate for Greater Manchester mayor, Andy Burnham, has launched a manifesto which he says is the result of months of collaboration with people across the region.

Since the launch of his Mayoral campaign in November, the MP has been hosting events the length and breadth of Greater Manchester from Trafford to Rochdale and Wigan to Tameside.

And he says it draws on the ideas from those meetings and is designed to 'do politics differently'.

Mr Burnham said as he launched 'Our Manifesto' on March 15: “Greater Manchester is the home of radical forward-thinking and ‘Our Manifesto’ is a continuation of that process – it is a political prospectus unlike any other. We have spoken to all sorts of people across Greater Manchester about what matters to them.

“We do things differently here and now we have the chance to do it again. The arrival of devolution in England presents the best opportunity we will ever get to rebalance this country from South to North and give real power to the people and places Westminster has left behind.

“This is a great moment in the country’s history and if anyone can rise to the challenge, the people of Greater Manchester can. We invited them to help us write a manifesto for its future. And they have. Thousands have attended our meetings and sent their ideas."

Integral to the launch event, at The Sharp Project in Manchester, were people who had directly contributed to ‘Our Manifesto.’ They talked about transport, homelessness, mental health, apprenticeships and investment in digital industries.

The Stone Roses gave permission for Mr Burnham to use their music for the launch of ‘Our Manifesto.’ He spoke against a backdrop of archive footage of iconic images mapping the social and political history of the city-region with a soundtrack of This is the One.

“People are proud of Greater Manchester. It is already a great place to live and thanks to strong civic and political leadership, has come a long way in the last 20 years. Now is the time to build on those foundations and make it even greater,” said Burnham.

“Our Manifesto sets new ambitions for what we want Greater Manchester to be: the best place to grow up; the best place to live and get on; the best place to grow older.

“Young people are at the heart of Our Manifesto. Westminster has made them a target for cuts but here in Greater Manchester we will make them a priority for investment. The only way to build a strong and prosperous City-Region for everyone is to give hope to the next generation. Greater Manchester will only rise to the challenge of Brexit if we invest in our people and give all our young citizens hope for their future at the end of school,” added Burnham.

“Our Manifesto’s message to young people is clear: this place is yours to explore, to shape and to build. And to show our commitment to that message we will give all teenagers aged 16-18 half price bus travel moving to half price Metrolink travel as soon as possible. We will develop a pioneering Opportunity Pass which will give young people the chance to earn access to sporting, cultural and musical events through volunteering and community work alongside free travel.”

The young person’s travel pass will be paid for by working with schools and colleges to pool existing funding and using new powers over the bus companies. Burnham says the package of measures targeting young people will significantly reduce benefits spending on the under 25s in Greater Manchester. He will ask the Government for at least half of the savings to recycle back into building up the Opportunity Pass.

“We want Greater Manchester to become the centre of British industry once more with a revolution in digital industries and our young people are a vital part of that ambition.

We will give apprenticeships the same status as university degrees with a university-style application process,” added Burnham.

He will also establish a Youth Combined Authority made up of young people to advise the Mayor on how policies affect young people.

As well as redefining support for the next generation Burnham says he’ll re-write the rules about ageing:

“Here, older people won’t be spoken of as a burden. The term ‘bed-blockers’ will be banished. Instead, we will pioneer a positive new vision of active ageing with older citizens supported to live a longer life to the full and valued for the contribution they can make.”

Burnham says one issue that has been raised at almost all ‘Our Manifesto’ events is mental health services for young people. He will introduce a new general principle in Greater Manchester that no child who needs mental health support will be turned away or forced to wait long periods to access the support they need. As part of this, he will work with the NHS to ensure there is adequate provision for all needs within Greater Manchester so that no child has to travel away from home to receive treatment.

Priorities in ‘Our Manifesto’ are:

• Introducing the country’s first fully integrated National Health and Social Care service.

• Tackling congestion, using new powers to get a better deal for passengers.

• Recruiting more police officers and protecting the force against cuts.

• Making sure everyone has a decent, affordable home to rent or buy and ending rough sleeping by 2020.

• Investing in technical education, and helping young people with transport costs