The vision, comment, tone of the Osbourne speech re HS3 on enhancing Manchester as a powerhouse to London is almost exclusively lifted from the first class BBC2 programme "Mind The Gap", presented by Evan Davies and aired over 6 months ago.
Sorry, no original thinking from the Chancellor here I'm afraid !
If it does come off (this side of 2050) and with the metrolink expansion to the airport plus crossrail Manchester it really will offer some excellent connectivity in respect of Man Airport.
On a theme Transport for London of have been spouting copious amounts of hot air re domestic connectivity or lack of it at Heathrow and how a 3rd runway will bring back those connections, hopefully in circa 15 years time when the thing actually gets built.
https://www.tfl.gov.uk/cdn/static/cm...onnections.pdf
Maybe somebody at MAG could respond by indicating that Manchester serves more than double the domestic airports served by LHR and LGW as at, er NOW !
If you couple our 12 routes plus the easy road/rail connection to 5 other major cities which are less than an hour away, connectivity to long haul at Manchester is not that far behind Amsterdam !