Rishi Sunak confuses northern towns in market visit gaffe

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has been invited to "spend more time in the north" after mixing up the names of two towns during a television interview.

The minister heaped praise on the "world famous Burnley market" during a visit to Bury in Greater Manchester, 20 miles away.

Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham said it was "nice to know he's very familiar with the north".

A Treasury spokesman said it was an innocent slip of the tongue.

He said the chancellor "very much enjoyed his visit to Bury Market" and "enjoyed the opportunity to talk about levelling up".

'Pride in your home'

Mr Sunak has been touring the country conducting interviews following his Budget announcement.

The mix-up came after BBC Breakfast presenter Ben Thompson told Mr Sunak he originated from Burnley, in Lancashire.

When answering a question about the government's so-called levelling-up agenda, Mr Sunak said: "It is not just about being in the North by the way.

"We're here in Burnley but if you are growing up in a village in the South West or even on the South Coast, people want to feel opportunity is there for them, wherever they happen to be.

"I put it down to two things. One is having pride in the place you call home and a lot of what we announced yesterday, the levelling-up fund, bids like Burnley market - world famous Burnley market - benefiting from £20m of investment.

"It is about improving the everyday infrastructure of our communities."

Mr Sunak visited Bury Market the day after presenting his budget to the House of Commons

Mr Burnham told BBC Radio Manchester the chancellor "probably needs to spend a bit more time here".

The mayor then made a joke reference to "the famous Burnley black pudding" - in a nod to Bury's well-known speciality.

The Labour leader of Bury Council, Eamonn O'Brien, said: "We can forgive a slip-up but I'm being very generous here because they have backed our plans.

"What I would like to see, however, is the chancellor, if he's serious about levelling up, you can't just do it with one-off projects.

"You can't just throw money at a one-off thing."

He said the chancellor needed to "sort out local government finance and give council services the money that they need".

Why not follow BBC North West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram? You can also send story ideas to [e-mail]