Liverpool and Manchester mayors jokingly trade insults ahead of DJ battle

Expect The Beatles to feature in the DJ battle between Andy Burnham and Steve Rotheram

Rival city region mayors have jokingly traded insults over which of them has the greatest musical history.

Andy Burnham and Steve Rotheram laid on the trash talk before a head-to-head DJ battle.

Greater Manchester's Mr Burnham said Liverpool "only had one band" while Mr Rotheram said Manchester could not come close to rivalling his city's pop offering.

The good-natured verbal bout came ahead of a charity event in Liverpool later.

Each will invite special guests up to the decks at the Camp And Furnace bar to play records by their city's best bands and solo artists, before the audience decides on the winner.

Stars including actor and DJ Craig Charles and singer Rebecca Ferguson will spin for Liverpool, while ex-Coronation Street actress Sally Lindsay - who played Shelly Unwin in the soap - and the M-People's Heather Small will choose the tracks for Manchester.

Speaking to the BBC ahead of the event, Mr Burnham said: "It's going to be pretty easy for us because obviously Steve Rotheram has only got one band, whereas we've got a wealth of talent, a wealth of musical riches to choose from."

He added: "Liverpool is the home of Eurovision, the home of cheesy music.

"Whereas Manchester is the global capital of the coolest music on the planet."

Rebecca Ferguson is one of the stars taking part in the DJ battle to be held in Liverpool

Mr Rotheram hit back, saying the statistics were on Liverpool's side.

He added: "Liverpool's bands and artists have produced more number ones than Manchester's, have had more weeks in the charts and more global fame… and we're a Unesco World City of Music.

"We've had many decades of chart success in comparison with 'Madchester', we beat Manchester to hosting Eurovision and - and this is a big 'and' - we produced the greatest band ever to walk the earth."

He added there was "only one possible winner - Liverpool".

The 2023 event raised £25,000 towards tackling homelessness in both cities.

Funds raised this year will be split between Merseyside and Greater Manchester rough-sleeping projects.