I hope that this decision is the first step in a drive to ensure greater connectivity between British cities and the rest of the world.
It’s a question that Parliamentarians will have wrestle with for the next five years and beyond.
How the Chancellor used Manchester as his starting-point of his Northern Powerhouse plan for urban revival and election success.
Rename the whole project to reflect its truly unifying nature and let more of Britain, Scotland and Northern England be connected by the “steel threads”.