The Prime Minister was in Greater Manchester today. Flanked by MPs, councillors and activists, Rishi Sunak visited Bury and Rochdale ahead of next month's council elections.
He was pictured - by a Conservative Party photographer and bystanders - speaking to stallholders at Bury Market and posing for selfies. Members of the press were not invited to cover the visit, including Manchester Evening News staff.
The party says that is because the visit was 'cut short' having been rescheduled. The Tories did however provide images from the visit on Flickr.
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The PM's first stop in Greater Manchester saw Mr Sunak visit Bury Market. Pictures shared on social media showed him speaking to a number of stallholders alongside Bury North MP James Daly.
During his last visit to the market back in 2021, Mr Sunak appeared to confuse Bury with Burnley. The then-Chancellor referred to Bury Market as the 'world-famous Burnley market' during an interview with BBC Breakfast.
After leaving Bury, Mr Sunak headed to Bamford, in Rochdale, where he joined campaigners knocking on doors in the area..
It was the Prime Minister's second trip to Rochdale this month after he visited the town to launch a new 'grooming gangs' taskforce he said would 'make a big difference' to tackling child abuse.
The PM did, however, speak to reporters during a visit to Lancashire earlier on Saturday (April 15).
Speaking in Pendle today, Mr Sunak blasted the 'cowardly, cowardly' actions of Olivia Pratt-Korbel's killer Thomas Cashman, after he refused to attend court to face his life sentence.
Asked whether he believed the law should be changed to force criminals like Cashman to attend court, Mr Sunak accused killers of not allowing victims' families the closure and sense of justice they deserve.
He added that the government will bring forward legislation preventing this 'when they are able', reports the M.E.N's sister site Lancs Live.
The Prime Minister told reporters: "First thing to say is what happened to Olivia was horrific, I have two young daughters of similar age and I remember in the summer when that happened it was just awful and my heart goes out to her family.
"And you're right, these cowardly, cowardly people who are not facing up to their actions and not allowing the victims' families to have the sense of justice that they deserve."
"The deputy Prime Minister, the Justice Secretary [Dominic Rabb], has said that he wants to change the law to make sure that they do face up to their actions in court and when we are able to bring forward the legislation to do that we will."
The PM was given a tour of the Pendle Hippodrome Theatre in Colne by local MP Andrew Stephenson before heading off to Burnley as part of the ongoing canvassing for the upcoming local elections.
A Conservative Party spokesperson said: "We would have loved to have invited the Manchester Evening News and other media outlets, but the visit had to be rescheduled and cut short."
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