Talk Socialism

Publishing today! 'Act now: A vision for a better future and a new social contract'

A secure, democratic and prosperous Britain is possible. This book is the blueprint, and calls on politicians, pundits and the British people to act now.

Join us at one of the upcoming launch events:
Northumbria University and online
Blackwell's Bookshop Oxford
People's Bookshop
Bookhaus

Details and tickets available on our Events page here: https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/events/

It takes time to build a narrative in politics. Despite getting 25,018 votes in Newcastle three weeks ago, and lots of people encouraging me, I will not be standing in this snap General Election. Instead, I will be building a movement to change things long-term.

The General Election coverage has already descended into trivia. Ooh, look, Rishi Sunak got wet. Keir Starmer keeps saying “change” a lot – what does that mean? Almost no journalists are asking how either of them will improve the lives of the working people of Britain.

Our two-party system and first-past-the-post makes the result a foregone conclusion. Successive Conservative Governments have heightened wealth inequality, corroded our public services, and fiddled while the planet burns. Very few Tories want to defend that record. Keir Starmer will be Prime Minster.

What comes next is also a foregone conclusion. Deemed a safe pair of hands by the establishment, Sir Keir and those around him will continue failed Conservative economic policies. When it comes out, Labour’s manifesto should be called “Tinkering around the edges”.

So how do we effect democratic change?

Labour’s plan to fix nothing will quickly lose popularity. Next May, Northumberland and Durham have all-out council elections. May 2026 will see all-out elections in Newcastle, Gateshead, Sunderland, and South Tyneside, and council elections in North Tyneside. Then May 2028 is the North East Mayoral election. Even under first past the post we can win these. And build for the next General Election.

So I will be building a network of North East independents.

People committed to democratic accountability, high standards in public life, and putting working people first. Including those not paid for their work, unable to work or retired from a lifetime of work.

This project will empower people with the strategies and skills to win elections. How to develop a popular, deliverable programme. Communicating with impact. Building support in your community. And organising to get elected. It’s for campaigners as well as candidates. People who want to be involved in different ways.

This is how we build a narrative in defiance of the banality of the mainstream media. If you want to know more, come along to Tyneside Irish Centre on Saturday 1st June, 2pm. You must book a ticket, it’s free: https://bit.ly/4dWk5S8

Don’t shout at the telly – it changes nothing. Get yourself along, and make a difference.

Kim McGuinness is suggesting a 7.7% rise in council tax bills. Shows how removed she is from how people in this region are struggling to pay their bills.

We want a leader who gets that people are struggling. £0 council tax rises since 2019 from Jamie Driscoll, North of Tyne Mayor. It’s an easy choice.

I always had the power to add a ‘precept’ to your council bill. I know other politicians do it, but I know how many people out there are struggling to pay their bills. I’ve added £0 to your council tax. Instead, I’ve levered in millions in ethical private investment to ensure I create thousands of jobs and keep our regional economy growing.

I believe in putting money in people’s pockets, not taking it out.

I’ve made sure that the new North East Mayoral Authority will continue what I’ve started, and not add anything to council bills in the first year. As North East Mayor, I’d continue that and my track record proves that I keep my promises.

“I haven’t seen a single show at this year’s fringe because I’m too skint, and that I feel sums up the arts: artists unable to see the art.”

Berwick artist Chloe Smith wrote that in August last year. It’s something I’m determined to change.

I met Chloe this week. She was full of enthusiasm for the new culture and creative zone in the town that we’ve put £1.5 million into. ‘Create Berwick’ is all about investing in artists to build a year-round economy that provides jobs and opportunities for local people and attracts visitors from all over the world.

It’s about a new vision for Berwick as a thriving cultural and creative centre for the 13,000 people who call it home. It’s a plan that’s already working.

Politicians often express concern about the future of high streets and town centres. The pandemic accelerated trends that were already underway – the move towards online shopping being the most obvious. The streaming revolution means we no longer need to go to an HMV or Virgin Megastore to buy CDs, videos, or DVDs. We can buy what we want to watch or listen to from the comfort of our own living rooms.

Usually the plan seems to be about returning to an imagined idyllic past where people emptied their wallets in town and left with bags full of consumer goods. Often the proposal solution amounts to putting in a few benches and a nicer pavement.

But a one-size fits all approach rarely works. Nor does wishful thinking.

There’s always been change. Town and city centres used to be manufacturing hubs. In the early 19th century Berwick’s commercial, trading and industrial base grew from small businesses becoming major manufacturers such as malting, milling, brewing, tanning, iron manufacturing, textiles, tiling and rope making.

The high street as a concept didn’t come about until the 1870s. But back then it was dominated by thousands of different market stalls and shops. These days most people buy their groceries from a supermarket. Or get them delivered to their home. Trying to change that is like trying to turn back time.

Far better to look at what a place’s advantages are and work to boost them further. Berwick has a good recent track record with arts and culture. And that includes everything from guided relaxation sessions to watching a film about the speedway at Shielfield Park.

The Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival, which we gave £170,000 to this year to make it even bigger and better, has been going since 2005. The Maltings, built on the site where the ingredients for beer and whisky used to be made , has been open since 1990. And has sold a million tickets for theatre, dance, music, comedy, films and other activities since then.

Ask artists what they need and they’ll usually answer, “space”. Anyone walking round Berwick town centre will see that there are a number of empty shops there. What might no longer work for retail could be repurposed as studios. A number of shop keepers already do both – creative people with an income separate to their main business.

Artists also need money. To become a world class musician, you don’t simply find a job advert on gumtree for a first violinist, borrow your mate’s Stradivarius and rock up to the interview. It takes talent and incredible levels of commitment. And a lot of practice. So part of our plan involves small grants for individuals, freelancers, artists, practitioners, creatives, cultural organisations, collectives and community groups who are delivering, or want to deliver, new work in the Create Berwick zone.

This works for Berwick, but every town and city is different.

We’re funding similar initiatives in North Shields and Newcastle city centre. No matter where you are in the North of Tyne if you’re an independent artist, creative professional or small business you’ll have access to resources to help you grow. We want year-round jobs in culture and tourism – organising festivals and staging events that don’t depend on summer weather.

With the new £6.1 billion devolution deal I negotiated from Government, I will be able to help towns across the North East get the investment that works for them.

We also get control of our transport system. With better rural buses, more trains, and integrated ticketing, more people can come to events. And because I’ll make travel free for under-18s, taking your kids for a day out will be more affordable.

With a thriving creative community you get more secondary jobs too – everything from cafes and restaurants to joiners and accountants. Because when artists earn more money, like everyone else they’ll want to spend it.

No longer unable to see the art, artists like Chloe will go beyond the fringe.

The last thing we need for our new North East Mayor is someone who doesn’t understand the devolution deal. Please everyone. Vote Jamie Driscoll, North of Tyne Mayor in May.

This week two local politicians claimed that Government is withholding transport money from County Durham as part of the devolution deal. According to Carl Marshall and Kim McGuinnness, “the Government froze Durham out of a key transport fund” that will cause “two-tier devolution” This is 100% untrue, and they know it is untrue.

In my 2019 manifesto I promised I’d work to get transport devolution for the whole North East. I worked for years to secure that deal – now worth £6.1 billion to the region – it’s the best funded devolution deal in the country. Durham was originally part of the negotiations from 2020. They then chose to negotiate their own deal in 2021. Government said they would not get transport money if they did that, so in mid-2022 I proposed they rejoin the rest of the region.

In August 2022 Durham Labour leader Carl Marshall launched a campaign to stop Durham joining the North East deal. I persuaded government ministers to leave the door open for Durham. But after Carl Marshall’s campaign, I had a hell of a battle with the Labour council leaders to persuade them to let Durham back in. In the end it was agreed that Durham could join, but the other Labour leaders insisted that Durham should not get part of the first £475 million of transport money. After that, Durham gets its full share of all future transport investment – including all the new money coming from the cancellation of the HS2 northern leg. This only applies to capital investment, by the way. Durham still gets its share of bus revenue support and pothole money from day 1.

In the North East we’re sick of Westminster politicians lying to us. Now we’re being deceived by a Mayoral candidate parachuted in by London Labour HQ. No wonder trust in politicians is so low.

Paragraph 110 of the North East Devolution Deal states unequivocally that spending decisions are made by the new Mayor in conjunction with the council leaders, not by central Government. If Ms McGuinness wants Durham to get its share of the £475 million, she needs to oppose the local council leaders.

We’re right to demand complete honesty from our politicians. The truth should never be compromised to score political points.

I’ve put a link to the full newspaper article in the comments.

Trust in our politicians is at an all time low. It’s because of a complete lack of honesty. How can we trust them. We need to demand more. Jamie Driscoll, North of Tyne Mayor makes some great points here.

Honesty is more than the absence of lies. You know the classic oath, “to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.”

Contrary to popular expectations, I’ve found very few politicians who are outright liars. In private, a good number are quite truthful. Sadly, though, as soon as it comes to public statements, many will blame, make excuses, and misrepresent others. Many are uncomfortable being dishonest, but do it anyway.

I’m not talking about people putting their best foot forward – dressing smartly, or presenting your point well. If I do a live Zoom interview on telly from my home office, I put on suit and tie, even though moments earlier I was in a t-shirt. We all dress smartly when we go to a wedding – it’s not dishonest, it’s respectful.

Likewise, expressing your argument succinctly is an honest thing to do. You have very little time to make your point, and can’t go into every nuance and caveat. If asked about my record as Mayor, I’ll say, “5,377 jobs, 1,948 homes, child poverty prevention in 98 schools, and negotiated a £6.1 billion devolution deal”. It’s all true, and nothing but the truth. But if you want the whole truth, that will take hundreds more words. Or thousands. We have something like 135 live projects at the moment. I can’t fit them all into an answer. Brevity is the soul of wit.

Which is why I’ve hosted Mayor’s Question Times since I was elected. It’s why I’m holding Town Hall meetings across the North East pretty much every week – and giving people detailed answers to whatever questions they want to ask me. Very, very few politicians are willing to subject themselves to that kind of scrutiny. Come along and see for yourself.

The most common form of political dishonesty is not the outright whopper. “I drove to Barnard Castle to test my eyesight.” Or “the Covid rules were observed in Number 10 at all times.” These are deliberate statements of something they knew to be factually untrue. The Michelle Mone corruption was clearly about personal enrichment.

Most political dishonesty is about twisting the truth, rather than denying it.

Deliberate false promises are lies. Boris Johnson was a serial false promiser. I could write a whole article just listing them. But one stands out for me. He made a speech promising to dual the A1 all the way up to Scotland. It was serially delayed, but he repeated the speech. I arranged a meeting with a transport minister. “The PM said you’re going to fund the A1 all the way to Scotland, where’s that at?” I asked him. His answer? “The PM says a lot of things. The numbers don’t add up.”

I think Sir Keir’s Ten Pledges were deliberately misleading. To go from ten down to zero before you’re even elected? That tells me he was never committed to them. He’s now quietly removed them from his website. If he is so cynically dishonest and manipulative before getting into power, what can we expect when he’s under pressure as Prime Minister? We saw how quickly Tony Blair became embroiled in scandals and eventually the lies surrounding the Iraq War.

When Mr Sunak cancelled HS2, Labour heavily criticised him for it. Quite rightly – it was mismanaged on his watch, with many unanswered questions. But when asked, “would you commit to building it?” Labour at first avoided the question. Then came out with the excuse that the land would be sold off before they were in power. Which it turns out, isn’t true. Blaming the Conservatives for doing something you intend to do yourself is twisting the truth.

Mr Sunak’s record on truth is no better. Although he doesn’t put much effort into hiding his agenda of making the rich richer. Or not giving a toss about the climate emergency. Or the bizarre obsession with sending refugees to Rwanda in a cynical electoral gambit. His dishonesty is the way he justifies it.

Liz Truss’s dishonesty was in manipulating normal process to get her doctrinaire tax cuts through. She and Dr. Kwarteng deliberately cut the Office of Budget Responsibility out of the loop. Their disastrous mini-budget cost mortgage holders £thousands.

Most political dishonesty, though, is a form of Whattaboutery. Whattaboutery relies on blame and anger to work as a distraction. It could be scapegoating. “It’s not me guv, it’s the last lot what done it.” Or “it’s them immigrants.” It solves nothing.

It typically stems from intellectual dishonesty. Rather than thinking something through, people reach for an easy, but feeble excuse. Every mistake gets blamed on someone else. Attacking political opponents gets rewarded with tribal loyalty.

The real damage the lack of honesty causes is an absence of sound thinking. It’s hard work to construct an argument about why your opponents are taking the wrong path, and propose a better alternative. Much easier to vent. We need our political leaders to say, “Can we try this instead? Here’s my plan, and this is why I think it will work.” And that’s what worries me most. No one is advancing a plan to make Britain a better place for the people who do the work.

So what’s the future for honesty in politics? Well, you can help. Reject the spin and the hype. The blame. The feeble justifications. Calmly ask for the facts. Ask for the reasoning behind the facts. And always, always, ask, “What would you do instead? And how would you make that work?”

It was a fantastic turnout in Berwick today, especially considering there was a bit of a football match on a bit further south! Thanks to everyone who helped out.

The Berwick meeting is on Monday 15th January at 6.30 at the William Elder Building in Castlegate. You can get your free ticket on Eventbrite, I’ll put the link in the comments.

He’s the candidate with the experience to make a success of the North East Mayoral Authority. And he’s the only candidate who isn’t a Westminster puppet. Vote Jamie Driscoll, North of Tyne Mayor for North East Mayor!

Christmas can be joyous and fulfilling. It can be challenging time for people, too.

Whatever your situation, I hope you found moments of peace and joy yesterday. For me, I’m probably the classic festive cliché. Eating cold leftovers for days. Falling asleep on the sofa watching Wallace & Gromit. Reaching a point where half a box of Quality Streets is seen as an acceptable breakfast choice – even through the best ones have already been eaten.

This will be my last weekly column for a while. The editors have asked me to stop writing until after the Mayoral election in May. To be honest, it’s been a privilege, and thanks for all the excellent feedback. You can still read my weekly blog on JamieDriscoll.co.uk or social media.

So what better time to reflect on the last few years and look forward to the opportunities of 2024.

This time last year I was fielding calls from journalists about our new North East Devolution Deal. A deal now worth £6.1 billion to our region. A recurring question was, “How did you secure the deal?” The answer’s simple. I put politics to one side and worked with all parties to deliver for the people of the North East. Some see politics as a blame game. I’d rather just get things done. It’s what you’re elected to do.

Our excellent track record as the North of Tyne Combined Authority also helped us land the best funded devolution deal in the country. As Mayor, my main target from Government was to create 10,000 jobs within 30 years. In less than 5 years, our investments are creating 5,377 new jobs. We’ve hit our 2035 target already. We’re 11 years ahead of schedule.

We’ve also helped more people get these good jobs, with free, flexible vocational training courses. When central government was in charge of adult skills, we had 21,885 course enrolments a year. Once adult education was devolved to me, we increased it to 35,230. On the same budget. A 61% increase in value for money.

We’re also building 1,948 new homes on brownfield sites. With low-carbon and affordable housing. Including council homes.

Working with partners in Northumberland County Council, we’re re-opening the Northumberland line from Ashington into central Newcastle. It’ll start taking passengers in 2024.

We’ve invested £25 million in offshore wind and we’re tackling child poverty in 98 schools.

There’s no template for running a successful combined authority. Devolution is just a vehicle, you need the right driver. My goal was always to build a zero-carbon, zero-poverty, North East, with thriving modern industries and richer communities. We’re making real progress. And we’ve done this without borrowing money or putting a penny on your council tax bills. People of ordinary means already pay enough tax.

All of this was achieved against the backdrop of a global pandemic, war in Europe and the Middle East, and political chaos in Westminster.

So what does the future hold? The truth is nobody knows. So, instead of making predictions I’ll make a resolution. To finish the job I started in 2019.

The North of Tyne Combined Authority was always just the beginning. I knew that the real prize of devolution was transport. Getting transport powers and money required bringing the region together from Berwick to Barnard Castle. I’ve done that. From May we’ll have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to build a modern, efficient, reliable transport system.

If I’m re-elected, this time as North East Mayor, I’ll build a Total Transport Network. London style fully integrated public transport under public control. With cross-ticketing, low fares and free travel for all young people 18 and under.

For too long we’ve been the poor relation to London and the South East. Why shouldn’t we have the best public transport system in the country? Why shouldn’t we be the beating heart of the Green Industrial Revolution? Why shouldn’t we expect well paid jobs and secure, thriving communities? We know that we can’t rely on Westminster to solve our problems, so let’s be bold and creative in finding our own solutions.

This is my New Year’s resolution: to continue fighting for the North East – and getting results. As my Mam always said, ‘shy bairns get nowt’.

*Originally printed in the Journal and Evening Chronicle 26 Dec 2023

Time to put some pressure on. Well done to all the metro mayors including our own Jamie Driscoll, North of Tyne Mayor

As Mayor, I’m working hard to ensure our region grows and prospers. But this is being severely hampered by our local authorities being starved of the funds they need to provide core services to the most vulnerable people in our region.

I’ve joined other metro mayors in writing to Michael Gove to demand immediate action to support our councils.

"No doubt there will be lots of cheering and back-slapping... but the physics will not care.”

So said one scientist about the COP28 global climate agreement. “Transitioning away from fossil fuels” is already happening. Slowly. The UK’s first offshore wind turbines were installed in December 2000, near Blyth.

It’s not whether we’re “transitioning away” from fossil fuels that matters. It’s how fast.

I was an engineer working in Blyth at the time. Fast forward 23 years, and last Monday, I was in Blyth again, evaluating our TIGGOR programme. Technology Innovation and Green Growth in Offshore Renewables has nothing to do with Winnie the Pooh. Except for having lots of energy. It’s creating 118 direct jobs in the offshore technology, and hundreds more in the supply chain. Remote vehicles. Advanced software. Increased reliability and safety systems. I met two of the women working on the projects.

Every disaster movie you’ve ever watched has the same basic conflict. Can the characters escape the volcanic lava or killer bees in time?

In 2016 the world signed the Paris Climate Agreement. To keep global heating to below 1.5 degrees. Otherwise we’ll see crop failures, floods, and desert encroachment across the world. It’s worrying, then, that in November the temperature had risen 1.75 degrees. Food bills are already £100s a year more expensive because of climate damage. You can’t negotiate with nature. Actions speak louder than words.

Transport produces one third of the North East’s greenhouse gas emissions. In my 2019 manifesto I promised I’d unite the North East into one Mayor Combined Authority so we could get transport regulation devolved. I’ve kept that promise, and from May next year, if re-elected, I’ll create a Total Transport Network.

Fully integrated buses, trains and Metros. Where one ticket will take you your entire trip. On-demand transport in rural areas so they’re not out in the cold. With guards on trains to tackle anti-social behaviour. Integrated with safer cycling – away from busy roads where possible – and more pleasant walking routes. Greater accessibility for disabled people and parents with buggies. With an expanded car club so everyone can access a car without expensive vehicle ownership. And free transport for under-18s.

How can anyone argue against cleaner, faster, safer transport?

Thriving local shops and services help too. Sometimes called 15- minute cities, so you can buy a pint of milk or a newspaper locally. Or see a GP or post a parcel, without having to traipse across half the city.

For years people have campaigned to keep local services open. Yet now there are conspiracy theorists arguing against their right to buy tin foil within walking distance of home.

The public are sick of half-baked arguments and half-hearted solutions. I spoke to a young woman on Saturday. Intelligent and well informed, a biomedical scientist. She wants social justice and a sustainable future.
“In the general election, I don’t want to waste my vote. It’s really a tactical choice to keep out the Conservatives,” she said. “The trouble is I don’t believe Labour will do much either.” Polls show the vast majority of Britons agree with her.

“What about the Mayoral election?” I asked.

“That’s different. You’re electing one person,” she said. “And you can win and actually make a difference.”

She’s right. Prime Ministers are not elected by the public. They’re elected by their MPs.

In a Mayoral election, though, every vote counts equally. You directly elect the Mayor, not party representatives. Their skills, integrity and experience determine whether things get done.

Take retrofit. Insulating buildings and installing low-carbon heating such as air-sourced heat pumps.

We’ve already surveyed the entire North of Tyne Housing stock. 140,000 homes are particularly energy inefficient. Retrofitting them would create around 3,500 good jobs. But cost upwards of £7 billion. Add in Durham, Sunderland, Gateshead and South Tyneside and those figures more than double.

Once you exclude transport, education and other budgets, the new Mayor has a flexible budget of £48 million a year. If we spent our entire investment fund on this one project it would take us 331 years to complete it.

We need a Mayor who can get results faster.

Like negotiating with Government for the power to regulate the private rented sector. We could then require privately-rented homes to be insulated and have affordable, low-carbon heating. I’d then advance the cash up-front, and property owners could pay it back over decades from their increased property values and energy savings.

That’s how we get things done.

Like the 1,500 people across the North East doing green skills bootcamps this year. Free, flexible courses, like learning to install air-sourced heat pumps or maintain electric vehicles.

That’s the local Green New Deal in action. I shared a panel with Sian Berry, former leader of the Green Party, last week. According to research, the people of Brighton want the same things as the North East. Affordable public transport. Safer active travel. Fewer cars on the road. More green spaces. And warmer homes.

Except for going vegan. Geordies were less keen than Brightonians. I mentioned that we did invent the vegan sausage roll, though.

It's as if that climate summit cartoon listing the co-benefits from tackling the climate emergency has come to life.

“Energy independence, preserved rainforests, clean water, clean air, healthy children…” and a man in the audience says, “What if it’s a big hoax and we create a better world for nothing?”

*Originally printed in the Journal and Evening Chronicle 18 Dec 2023

Thatcher devastated the North East. Whole communities were shattered. We are still paying the price. That Keir Starmer would be praising her on any level is shocking. As Jamie says, “anyone who fails to challenge Sir Keir’s continuity Thatcherism is unfit to represent the North East”.

"Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears; I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him."

Last week Sir Keir Starmer did the opposite.

“Margaret Thatcher sought to drag Britain out of its stupor by setting loose our natural entrepreneurialism."

Did she?

I met Baroness Thatcher as a teenager in the 1980s. She probably saw me as one of the “moaning minnies” because I objected to the devastation she wrought on my community.

Her policies pushed unemployment above 3 million for the first time in British history.

248,000 jobs destroyed in the North East over her 11 years as Prime Minister. My Dad’s included.

Steelworks, wagon works, and of course, the mines.

Sir Keir knew exactly what he was doing. You don’t have a few too many on a Saturday night and accidentally write an article in The Sunday Telegraph. It’s not a misstep like his Gaza siege comment that Israel had the right to cut off power and water to Palestinians. It’s a deliberate act, like his refusal to call for a ceasefire in Gaza or call a war crime a war crime.

It’s also the second time he’s praised Baroness Thatcher. On 23rd March this year he praised her approach to law and order. Despite the waves of inner city rioting. Or epidemic of joy riding. And I doubt the Hillsborough families think highly of her cover ups. Or that gay people persecuted under Section 28 share Sir Keir’s praise. Crime rose by 37% through the Thatcher years.

At best he’s cynically fishing for votes in an ever-smaller pond of Tory voters.

At worst it’s because the Leader of the Opposition has no plan. The day after praising Margaret Thatcher his website took down his “ten pledges”. It now says “404 – page not found”.

Thatcherism continued without Thatcher. “Setting loose our natural entrepreneurialism" was really just privatisation. Mr Blair put PFI on steroids – hobbling hospitals with debt for decades. Our private utilities extracted £billions to tax havens and failed to build new reservoirs or transmission networks. Council house stock halved, the cause of today’s housing crisis.

The world has changed since Margaret Thatcher’s election in 1979, or Tony Blair’s in 1997. Thatcherism depended on selling off public assets. Blairism rode a wave of under-regulated banking profits until the bubble inevitably burst, landing us with the bill.

Neither approach is credible today. Lord Cameron, now back as Foreign Secretary, is our longest-serving Prime Minister since the global financial crisis. He lasted 6 years, but only 1 with a majority. Gordon Brown, Theresa May, and Boris Johnson had 3 years each. Liz Truss had 49 days and was outlasted by a lettuce. Rishi Sunak has survived a year so far.

What links their fates is that none has been able to raise living standards for the majority of Britons. And then either the electorate or their own party punished their failure. Until we move away from continuity Thatcherism, we will see no political stability.

I absolutely want a thriving private sector. And with over 5,000 new jobs created by the North of Tyne’s investments our record is strong.

If you’re running essential infrastructure, though, public interest must come before shareholder profit. What’s happened to our public sector? Is anything left of it? Schools, crumbling. NHS suffering chronic privatisation.

Our councils are barely standing. 1 in 5 council leaders and chief executives say they’ll run out of money next year. Many will go bankrupt.

I hold campaign meetings right across the North East. Last Tuesday in Ryton I asked a packed audience who would trust Mr Sunak to honour a promise. No one put their hand up. And who would trust Sir Keir? No hands. Then, slowly, one gentleman put his hand up. He approached me afterwards. “I do believe Starmer when he says he won’t turn on the taps,” he said.

This is where the silence is really deafening. Anyone who fails to challenge Sir Keir’s continuity Thatcherism is unfit to represent the North East.

Before he’s killed in Shakespeare’s play, Julius Caesar is warned to, “Beware the ides of March.” He brushes off the soothsayer’s prophecy and doesn’t give them a second thought. And then soon afterwards, everyone turns on him.

Labour and Sir Keir should take note.

*Originally printed in the Journal and Evening Chronicle 11 Dec 2023