Last week the three Northern metro mayors, Andy Burnham, Ben Houchen and Steve Rotheram, held a first meeting with Brexit secretary David Davis. This meeting has been a long time coming.

Back in July 2016, several Northern city leaders wrote to Davis asking for a meeting. It took six months for the Government to send a negative response. In March, through parliamentary questions, Andy Burnham and Steve Rotheram got the Brexit secretary to agree to meet with them if and when they were elected. It has taken another seven months to hold him to his word.