Andy Burnham was pictured wearing a mask as he attended a service for coronavirus victims in July. The Labour heavyweight urged whoever is in government after the general election to press ahead with the building of a High-Speed 2 rail link, which would negate the need for the controversial expansion at the country’s biggest airport.Airports across the country could be linked to London by the £88bn train line instead, he said.The former health secretary’s intervention comes after shadow chancellor John McDonnell suggested the airport’s expansion could be The Labour manifesto is silent on the future of Heathrow, instead advocating the creation of a £250bn National Investment Bank.Confusion remains as to whether the Tories will follow through with the project.

2,894 Followers, 7 Following, 42 Posts - See Instagram photos and videos from Andy Burnham (@andyburnhamgm) Students affected by the downgrading of A-level results urged to join a possible legal action.Andy Burnham said the Test & Trace system is "nowhere near good enough" and called for the government to pay people's wages if they have to self-isolate.The Mayor of Greater Manchester told LBC that the Test & Trace scheme is currently only reaching just over half of the contacts of people who test positive.He said some people can't afford to self-isolate and not work for two weeks, so the government need to incentivise it.Speaking to Tom Swarbrick, he said: "52% of people in Greater Manchester who have been named by someone who has tested positive have been reached and clearly that's nowhere near good enough. "He added Mr Corbyn has "governed the party with quite a lot of energy and determination. If they spend a day trying to get hold of someone and can't, they should immediately pass that to the local area. Student's remarkable conversation with Tory MP overStudent lays into government's "catastrophic failure" asGavin Williamson makes U-turn just six seconds after hisThe student taking the fight to the government over theDonald Trump fuels 'birther' conspiracy theory aboutPublic warned over criminals using celebrities to promoteSchools Minister says students won't be charged to sit "If you get a message to serve on a jury, you're being asked to do your public duty and it's the same for NHS Test and Trace. "You could think about the events industry, aviation. One of the biggest plus points for HS2 is that you don’t need to build a third runway at Heathrow.”We rely on advertising to help fund our award-winning journalism.We urge you to turn off your ad blocker for The Telegraph website so that you can continue to access our quality content in the future. "It does not make sense to have run a furlough scheme to this point, simply to abandon it when those industries can't fully return. 1,400 talking about this. "Especially with schools coming back in a number of weeks now, we need to get this system to a much higher standard than it's currently operating at. "We will then pick it up and do some old-fashioned door-knocking and get hold of people. Tom Swarbrick The Mayor of Greater Manchester addressed poor communication from the Government on whether his area would go back into lockdown in the days prior. Mayor Andy Burnham said: "There is a growing amount of evidence that pubs are one of the main places where this virus spreads." Read our community guidelines in full "He's showing great energy levels, and great determination. Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham says there's “no need” to build Heathrow’s third runway, with the money better spent connecting the airport with the rest of the country. Mr Burnham said: “I am not asking the staff or the cashiers to do this. "The government's Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme was first introduced by Chancellor Rishi Sunak in March to protect jobs during lockdown.It has so far been used to protect 384,700 jobs in the Greater Manchester region, with almost one in three employees put on the scheme by their employers.The scheme means workers placed on leave have been able to receive 80pc of their pay, up to a maximum of £2,500 a month.That's the prediction from employment law specialists Slater Heelis Solicitors as bosses across the region weigh up whether to bring staff back full-time, part-time or let them go.From October 2, the government will pay 60 per cent of wages up to a cap of £1,875 for the hours the employee is on furlough.Employers will pay ER NICs and pension contributions, and top up employees’ wages to ensure they receive 80 per cent of their wages up to a cap of £2,500, for time they are furloughed.Chancellor Rishi Sunak introduced the furlough scheme in March