Chancellor George Osborne will today be presented with a £15 billion plan from five northern cities to help revolutionise transport across the region.
The ‘One North’ report includes plans for a 125mph TransPennine rail link that could see increased capacity and reduced journey times, as well as faster and better links to ports and airports.
It has been put together by Leeds, Sheffield, Manchester, Liverpool and Newcastle with support from Hull, Bradford, Wakefield and York.
In a speech in June the chancellor said the cities in the north of England were individually strong but were "collectively not strong enough".
He also said he wanted to create a “northern powerhouse” and rebalance the UK economy, which he said is “dominated by London”. Part of his plan was a so-called HS3 rail link between Manchester and Leeds.
Speaking earlier today in Manchester, Osborne promised to “make a reality” of his plan to create a new northern economic hub. “I’m ready to commit new money, new infrastructure, new transport and new science. And real new civic power too,” he said.
"We need to make sure we have got a northern powerhouse so that our economy in this country is not unbalanced - we are not wholly dependent on the success of the global city that is London.
"But we have across the North of England individual cities that are better connected, that have a better quality of life and that are able therefore to generate economic activity across our United Kingdom."
Liverpool’s mayor Joe Anderson told the BBC Today programme that Manchester and Liverpool could be “one economic powerhouse”.
“It’s just that we haven’t got the connectivity to be able to operate as such,” he said.
Labour’s shadow treasury minister Shabana Mahmood welcomed the report but said only a Labour party could deliver the “ambitious” plan.
"We welcome this report and the city regions of the North of England working together to plan strategically to deliver the growth and jobs we need,” she said.
"But only Labour will properly back our city and county regions with ambitious plans to devolve more funding and economic power to them.
Osborne has promised to consider the cities’ recommendations but hasn’t confirmed whether he will fully implement them.