SHADOW Home Secretary Andy Burnham has thrown his weight behind our Fair Deal Devo campaign and told the Chancellor to 'put his money where his mouth is.'

This week, The Bolton News — working with a host of Greater Manchester newspapers — launched the campaign, calling on Chancellor George Osborne to provide the proper financial settlement for Greater Manchester as the area looks to take on new devolved powers from central government.

The campaign — timed to coincide with the Tory party conference in Manchester — has received the backing of council leaders across the region who fear they will not get the money they need to successfully take on the new powers.

Now Leigh MP Andy Burnham — who has taken up a key role in Jeremy Corbyn’s new shadow cabinet — has fully endorsed the campaign.

He said: “I absolutely back the Fair Deal Devo campaign. We have heard a lot of talk from Mr Osborne but the time has come for him to put his money where his mouth is.”

Like Bolton Council leader Cliff Morris, Mr Burnham is worried that the new powers — which will give the region more responsibility for things like health, transport and planning — could arrive without the money to make them work.

He said: “The risk is now that they don’t devolve enough money and then if things go wrong, Westminster can turn around and say its failed and blame it on the local leaders.

“The Tories have raised expectations and now they have got to deliver on them — my job will be to relentlessly hold them to account on that.”

He added: “If they don’t deliver — we will expose that.”

In his speech earlier in the week, Mr Osborne said he is “throwing everything he has” at creating a northern powerhouse, but Mr Burnham believes the slogan is in danger of becoming “a bit thin.”

He added: “I don’t think people living around here would say they feel like they are living in a northern powerhouse.

“Talk is fine, but there isn’t much substance and I haven’t seen any evidence of it —there is actually a danger of the north-south divide getting even bigger.”