Sir Keir Starmer was wined and dined by the billionaire co-owner of Manchester United who wants taxpayers’ money to boost a massive redevelopment of Old Trafford.
The Prime Minister has declared he enjoyed £1,790 worth of hospitality from the Red Devils at the end of last season when they played his beloved Arsenal.
He received ‘two tickets in the Directors’ Box (including dining)’ according to his entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests and was pictured talking to Sir Jim Ratcliffe during the match.
Sir Keir was at the stadium with Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham and before the match they met Sir Jim – who the following month revealed he was backing Labour – to discuss his £2billion plan to create the ‘Wembley of the North’.
The club wants to build an entirely new 100,000-seater stadium, instead of fixing the current one which now pales in comparison to the homes of other clubs.
It believes that the project, which would also mean 17,000 new homes, would create tens of thousands of jobs and add billions of pounds to the UK economy.
But those backing the scheme want the Government to provide some funding, including for improving local transport links. Mr Burnham said yesterday that taxpayers’ money could be required to move a freight rail terminal behind the existing stadium to Merseyside.
He told a meeting at the Labour party conference: ‘What that then does is free up the space around Old Trafford so the club… can bring forward the most ambitious regeneration.
‘We hope it’s the best football stadium in the world, which brings benefits to residents around it.’ Mr Burnham said that connecting the Parkside terminal on Merseyside to the West Coast Mainline would then ‘fix the rail system of the north west of England’.
The redevelopment would also see a new station built at the stadium.