'They've given up on Greater Manchester and the North'

The Conservatives have 'given up on Greater Manchester and the North' according to the man they picked to stand against mayor Andy Burnham in May. Dan Barker, who was the Conservative candidate, has defected to Reform UK.

The magistrate from Sale claims he repeatedly asked the party for more funding for his campaign in the Greater Manchester mayor election. But he said, aside from £5,000 to print booklets, 'they didn't give me a single penny'.

Meanwhile, he claims that Susan Hall, who is the Conservative candidate for London mayor, told him that she has received around £5m. The party has said it has to be 'realistic' about its prospects in heavily Labour voting areas.

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However, the Conservatives said they would not comment on internal party matters. Mr Barker said: "From being on the inside, I think there was a decision taken quite some time ago that they were going to protect the 'blue wall' in the south east and the south west where some of the cabinet members and senior party members have seats.

"They've given up on Greater Manchester and the North."

Mr Barker hit out at the party for the handling of its decision to cancel the Northern leg of HS2 last year, saying it was 'damaging' to the Tories locally. He said he was 'seriously considering' quitting and joining Reform in January.

He wrote to the party chairman and the Prime Minister after George Galloway won the Rochdale by-election, arguing that this would have ramifications beyond the constituency. But he was not satisfied with the response.

He said: "I certainly wasn't planning to be a paper candidate. I was elected by the membership through a democratic process. I knew it