Better connection between Sheffield and Manchester can help the North succeed - Oliver Coppard and Bev Craig

Greater Manchester is the UK’s fastest-growing city region, with annual growth more than double the rate of the country as a whole.

Sheffield’s productivity is growing faster than any other core city outside Greater Manchester.

Imagine what we could unlock if we connected our two places properly.

For all the talk nationally and internationally about economic growth and investment, most people experience the result of these things in much simpler ways.

Can we get to work on time?

Can we take up a better job, apprenticeship or college course without leaving home?

And can businesses move people, products and ideas quickly between two of the North’s biggest city regions?

Those questions matter just as much in Sheffield as they do in Manchester. Yet despite being neighbours separated by little more than 30 miles of hills, valleys and some of the most beautiful countryside in the world travelling between South Yorkshire and Greater Manchester can still be slow, unreliable and frustrating.

Anyone who regularly crosses the Pennines knows the challenge.

When the Snake Pass closes because of bad weather, when congestion builds on roads never designed for today’s traffic, communities and businesses on both sides of the Pennines feel the impact.

The same is true on our railways.

We’ve both heard the stories and we’ve experienced it ourselves. The commuter whose train is delayed again because a freight service is running late - again. The business traveller building extra time into every journey because they simply can’t rely on arriving when they’re supposed to. It isn’t good enough in a modern economy.

Our Prime Minister Andy Burnham knows this issue better than most. He has made the same point for years. The transport links between our city regions simply don’t match our potential.

The route between Sheffield and Manchester is one of the most important economic connections in the North, but it remains constrained by limited capacity and resilience.

That’s why improving east-west connectivity must remain a national priority.

The government’s commitment to Northern Powerhouse Rail is an important step forward. We need faster, more reliable connections between Sheffield and Manchester, more capacity on the network, and a long-term plan that ensures our transport infrastructure can support economic growth for decades to come.

We should also be prepared to think boldly about the future, including whether major new infrastructure, such as a tunnel beneath the Pennines, could deliver the resilient connection our communities and businesses deserve.

Of course, there will always be a healthy rivalry between South Yorkshire and Greater Manchester. We probably won’t agree on who’s got the best bands any time soon.

But when it comes to creating jobs, growing our economy and giving people more opportunities, we’re on the same side.

Because it isn’t really about roads, railways or tunnels.

It’s about making it easier for people to build a good life.

And it’s about making sure two of the North’s most dynamic places are connected well enough to succeed and grow the UK’s economy together.