Andy Burnham: Make golden triangle a ‘platinum pentagon’

Manchester mayor says R&D agenda needs to move from “margins” to “heart” of levelling-up vision

The so-called ‘golden triangle’ of Cambridge, London and Oxford should be expanded into a “platinum pentagon” with greater R&D investment in the North of England, Manchester’s Labour mayor has said.

Speaking at a Labour Party conference fringe event on how R&D could boost skills, jobs and security in the UK’s regions, Andy Burnham said that too often the R&D agenda “lives in the margins of the levelling-up story” when it should be “at the heart of the vision”.