MERSEYSIDE MPs joined colleagues from across the North West for a special committee meeting.

A group of the region’s 76 members of the North West Regional Grand Committee gathered at Liverpool Town Hall yesterday afternoon.

The committee acts as a regional Commons question time, and MPs had the chance to grill Phil Woolas, regional minister for the North-West, over issues affecting their constituencies.

First up was Wavertree MP Jane Kennedy who wanted to voice the importance of Edge Lane’s fruit, vegetables and flower market and neighbouring meat and fish market. There are plans afoot to bring the markets together as part of the Edge Lane plan, something Kennedy is hoping will rival Manchester’s markets.

In response, Phil Woolas said: “I welcome improvement to the Edge Lane corridor which is vital for the people who live there and making Liverpool an attractive place to invest. Sustainability is a big issue and making markets better means we can have better access to wholesale and retail sustainability.”

Bootle’s Joe Benton also quizzed the minister on “the desperately- needed tram system”.

He pleaded with Mr Woolas to talk to the Department of Transport (DoT) over the realisation of the plan.

Mr Benton said: “Jobs in Liverpool and Merseyside are desperately needed and with the tram system on the back burner when is it going to come to any sort of realisation?”