THE new Northern Powerhouse Minister has been urged not to overlook Bradford in the project to create an economic centre to rival London.

Andrew Percy MP spent today meeting local leaders, as he made his first visit to the city since taking office.

At City Hall, he was given a behind-closed-doors pitch about why there should be a stop for Bradford on the planned high-speed Northern Powerhouse Rail line, dubbed HS3, between Leeds and Manchester.

After the meeting, Shipley MP Philip Davies, who arranged the visit, said he and others had expressed frustrations that “everything gets thrown into Leeds” and had urged Mr Percy to change this culture.

Mr Davies said as an example of this he had mentioned the decision by HM Revenue and Customs to centralise its Yorkshire offices in Leeds, pulling many jobs from the Bradford district - which he acknowledged was not a decision Mr Percy could influence.

He said: “I wanted to highlight it as an illustration of the frustrations we have about how, in effect, it seems that to many people the North starts and ends at Leeds and we have to change that culture.

“The thing about today is we had the Shipley MP, we had the Labour leader of the council, we had the Conservative leader in opposition, and there were businesses there, but we were speaking with one voice for the Bradford district.

“One of the key messages was that if the Northern Powerhouse is going to deliver for Bradford, it is essential that Bradford has a stop on the HS3 line. To us, it would be inconceivable that a city the size of Bradford wouldn’t be on that.”

Mr Percy, who became Northern Powerhouse Minister in July, said as an MP for part of East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire, he appreciated that the project should be “about the whole of the North”.

He said: “A lot of people say to me it is about Leeds and Manchester. My clear statement is those are really important parts of the plan, but Bradford is as important as other cities across the North.”

Mr Percy said he had been “really interested” to hear Bradford’s leaders pitch their idea for a high-speed stop in the city.

He said: “They have made a passionate case for it today but I think we also need to recognise that wherever the final route is of Northern Powerhouse Rail, that’s not the end of it.

“It’s also about how wider communities connect into it.”

Mr Percy said the West Yorkshire Combined Authority was preparing a report about where the high-speed rail route could go, which he would read with interest.

He said he was struck by how regeneration had changed Bradford, saying he had known the city well as a student, when his best friend had studied here.

He said: “It’s incredible seeing how much has changed.”

Mr Percy, Mr Davies and deputy council leader Councillor Val Slater were also given a tour of the former Odeon building by Lee Craven, of Bradford Live, the organisation hoping to turn it back into a live venue.

Mr Percy said: “What an absolutely fantastic space. It is such a grand building in the middle of Bradford and I can see the potential for it.”

He said he wished Bradford Live well in securing a commercial operator and had asked to be kept updated as things progressed.

Bradford Council leader, Councillor Susan Hinchcliffe said: "It was good to have the Minister here in Bradford, I very much welcomed his visit.

"We talked about the importance of a successful Bradford to the success of the north.

"With the biggest youth population in the UK we have huge potential for economic growth if the investment is right. Getting transport infrastructure funded is key and we obviously discussed the importance of getting a stop in Bradford on the new Northern Powerhouse Rail."