Michael Heseltine: 'Liverpool's transformation brings tears to my eyes'

Lord Heseltine was dubbed "Minister for Merseyside" in the 1980s

Ex-Conservative deputy prime minister Lord Heseltine, who was instrumental in beginning the regeneration of Liverpool in the wake of the 1981 Toxteth riots, has said the city's transformation has "brought tears" to his eyes.

Reflecting on the area's "huge regeneration", Michael Heseltine told the BBC the city was "thriving".

His vision in the 1980s led to him being dubbed "Minister for Merseyside".

He said his work in the city ranks as his "greatest achievement".

Lord Heseltine said the hospitality sector was a key indication of how well the area was doing.

"In 1980 there were a thousand beds in hotels, today there are nine thousand beds in hotels and that tells you all you need to know, that there's been a huge regeneration," he said.

"You just need to look around, it brings tears to my eyes."

"The city is on a springboard, it's not a static phenomenon. This city is going places and it's very exciting to see", he added.

Margaret Thatcher was urged not to spend public money on the "stony ground" of Merseyside but Lord Heseltine says she backed his vision

He told BBC Radio Merseyside: "When I was here in 1980, I looked out at the river and it was an open sewer, I said to myself, 'what have they done to you, you are the lifeblood of this city'.

"Very shortly afterwards I announced the plan to clean up the Mersey and there are fish in that river now."

Government files released in 2011, under the 30-year rule, revealed that some senior Tory ministers had urged the then prime minister Margaret Thatcher not to spend public money on the "stony ground" of Merseyside.

She was urged, in a letter from then chancellor Sir Geoffrey Howe, to consider abandoning Liverpool to a fate of "managed decline".

Michael Heseltine spent three weeks on Merseyside in the summer of 1981

Lord Heseltine said much had been made of the letter, but people should remember that Mrs Thatcher ultimately backed him and his vision for Liverpool.

His contribution to the city was recognised in 2012 when he was awarded the Freedom of the City of Liverpool, the only Conservative to receive such an honour in modern times.

Asked about the future of Liverpool and whether the city should, as some have suggested, form a larger 'super city' with Manchester the former Tory minister was clear.

"Pull the other one", he said.

"They are two great, thriving cities and let them compete. It's very good having one trying to outdo the other it will improve local circumstances, that's exactly the dynamism that made this place."