Both of the candidates to replace Boris Johnson as Prime Minister launched stinging attacks on Andy Burnham during a hustings event in the city tonight (Friday)
Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss made their pitch to be the new Tory leader to an audience of over 1,000 local party members.
And they took the opportunity to attack the Labour Mayor of Greater Manchester's record, with both accusing him of "being on the side of the trade unions" over rail strikes.
Ms Truss reaffirmed her pledge to build Northern Powerhouse Rail in full saying she wanted to "make the M62 the superhighway to success."
Whilst Rishi Sunak said more action needed to be taken on grooming gangs and issued a warning that levelling up could not be just "only for the north."
Both candidates, who did not appear on stage together, gave speeches before being quizzed individually by TV host Alistair Stewart and members of the audience during the event at Manchester Central.
During his address, Mr Sunak attacked Mr Burnham's record on crime in the region as well as his stance on the rail issue.
"We need to restore trust of communities right here by calling out the failures of the Labour mayor Andy Burnham because it simply isn’t good enough," he said.
"I mean just look at the record - a police force (Greater Manchester Police) that was put into special measures, the highest rates of knife crime almost across the UK.
“Now I will make sure that the police have the powers to do their job and whether it’s stop and search, I will never let political correctness stand in the way of keeping us safe.
“And we saw him again today - a day of strikes, of Avanti cancelling trains. Whilst the Conservative Party was sticking up for hard-working families, the Labour party and Andy Burnham were on the side of the unions and the British people deserve better.”
Earlier Mr Burnham accused Mr Sunak's "sinking" campaign of basing his attacks on "false figures."
However Ms Truss also piled in, describing Mr Burnham as the "miserabilist mayor" and also accusing him of backing "militant" trade unions.
"Let’s be honest in this city there is a dark pall," she said. "There is the miserabilist mayor, Andy Burnham.
“He doesn’t want cars to come into the city. He doesn’t want people to be able to get on the train to get into work. He’d rather back the militant trade unions.
“He doesn’t want opportunities for people in this city and he has to be defeated.” Mr Burnham tweeted in the last hour: "Tories rock up in Manchester lecturing us about opportunity. Don't think so."
On the issue of rail, Ms Truss, who grew up in Leeds, restated her ambition to build Northern Powerhouse Rail as originally intended.
"I recognise I'm from the other side of the Pennines, but I do think it's time we buried the hatchet. After all the War of the Roses was quite a long time ago" she said.
“What I want to see is a successful North of England where everybody has opportunities and we link up the great cities of the North from Liverpool to Manchester to Leeds and beyond, and also, of course, Bradford.
“That’s why I want to build Northern Powerhouse Rail. I want those opportunities to be powered by enterprise and business unleashing investment right across the country. I want us to make the M62 the superhighway to success."
During the question and answer session, Mr Sunak was challenged on comments from last month, where he was filmed in Tumbridge Wells saying that whilst Chancellor he had diverted funds which she said were being "shoved" into "deprived urban areas."
In response, he tonight claimed there were people at the event where he made the comments from Thanet – "one of the most deprived areas in the country" and that "to say there are places in the south that don't need investment is simply, completely wrong."
Despite describing himself as "the most northern Chancellor we've had in 70 years" he said: "If we define levelling up as something that's only for the north, we will pay a political price for it."
In response to a question on grooming gangs he said wanted to see a new unit set up at the National Crime Agency to help further tackle the issue and for the ethnicity of those committing the crimes to be recorded as "we don't do that today and that's wrong."
A promotional video played before Mr Sunak entered the stage said that "Britain loves an underdog."
And despite Ms Truss being the overwhelming bookies' favourite to win the race he said "I'm going to fight until the last day of this contest, and I'm to keep going right until the end." The winner will be announced on September 5.
However Mr Sunak scored an own goal during the hustings with a footballing gaffe, wrongly looking forward to his team playing Manchester United this weekend when they are in fact facing Leicester City.
The Southampton FC fan’s fixture confusion came a day after it was pointed out his choice of McDonald’s breakfast was taken off the menu more than two years ago.
Having branded himself an “underdog” in the Tory leadership race, the former chancellor was asked at the Manchester hustings how as a Saints fan how he would get back to winning ways.
“I’m going to be unpopular for saying it here, starting by beating United this weekend,” he said.
Southampton, the city of Mr Sunak’s birth, are not due to play Manchester United until August 27.
Beforehand, around 100 protesters demonstrated outside the entrance of the Manchester Central convention centre where the hustings were held. They chanted 'Tories out', 'Tory scum off our streets and 'say it loud, say it here, refugees are welcome here' as police formed a line in front of the Tory members making their way inside.
They held up placards and banners on a number of issues from Brexit to the rail strikes and climate change.
There was also an eye-catching protest from an NHS campaign group. 38 Degrees parked an ambulance emblazoned with a picture of Mr Sunak and Ms Truss with the message 'Why are 6.7 million of us waiting? Fix the NHS backlog now' right outside the venue.
Fronting the campaign was TV star Sarah Mulwinda, host of Channel 4's The Sex Clinic, who's also a qualified nurse. She said: "As a nurse, I’m horrified to think of so many patients facing huge waits for vital treatment.
"Too many people are facing an impossible choice between waiting years for treatment or spending their life savings on private care.
"I hope we’ll encourage the leadership candidates to take the backlog seriously and end the wait for millions of people.Our NHS service is our greatest asset as a nation, and we simply cannot sit back and watch it fall."
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