On the six-year anniversary of his election as mayor, Andy Burnham has made a reflective statement and promised a number of changes across the borough in light of new devolved powers. 

The key areas the mayor considered were technical education, housing, and transport.

Mr Burnham began by thanking Greater Manchester residents, and spoke of the reduction of rough sleeping in the city centre.   

The mayor also said: "When I look back, I sometimes find it hard to take in the enormity of the events we have lived through since May 2017. 

"But, challenging as it has been, we have come through it together […]"

As for the three announcements, the mayor firstly proposed a stronger focus on technical education; "university is not the be-all-and-end-all and the big problem with education in England is that, under all parties, the university route has been allowed to dominate."

Whilst voicing his support for the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) - a collection of academically-minded GCSEs aimed at getting students into degrees and careers - Mr Burnham stated that there is no real alternative for those wishing to take technical qualifications and a work-related route.  

As an alternative, the mayor proposed the MBacc or Manchester Baccalaureate.  

"If the EBacc is designed to maximise young people's chance of getting a good university place, the MBacc will focus on subjects which maximise their chance of getting a good job in the growing success story that is the Greater Manchester economy. 

"It will steer students towards good T Levels just as the EBacc does for A Levels. 

"It's an exciting change which has the potential to lift the life chances of our young people and make this THE place to invest for companies who want to recruit the best young talent."

The mayor spoke of his wish to increase non-academic options for students (Image - Alasdair Perry)

Secondly, Mr Burnham outlined plans to deal with quality of housing.  

Arguing that there wasn't enough focus on renting, the mayor proposed a Greater Manchester 'Good Landlord Charter'.  

Mr Burnham stated: "It will have three clear purposes: first, to empower tenants; second, to give greater recognition to the many good landlords out there; and third, to isolate those who fail to meet basic standards and put pressure on them to change."

Finally, the mayor proposed a new fare structure to make public transport more affordable, as well as "more detail on bringing commuter rail services into our integrated system".  

Mr Burnham concluded with the following statement: "So, six years in, I feel the things I set out to achieve are slowly becoming a reality. 

"Devolution in England is bringing most of the much-needed new thinking and positive energy to British politics right now. 

"We are changing things for the better from the bottom up - and the best is still to come."

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