Sour nectarines
North East mayor Kim McGuinness marked her first anniversary in the role by calling on her national Labour colleagues to invest more in the region and deliver on their election promises.
Her interview with the Local Democracy Reporting Service came in the aftermath of a shocking set of results for Labour in the council elections - results which could have been catastrophic had elections actually taken place in the other five council areas in her patch.
But she and her fellow Northern mayors may have a fight on their hands in attracting favourable attention from Downing Street, according to the Sensemaker newsletter from The Observer.
“Labour is pouncing on Middle England. The initiative even has a codename: Project Nectarine. Labour says it will transform this belt of central England, stretching from Cambridge to Oxford, into “an engine of prosperity” that could add £78 billion to the economy by 2035.”
It goes on to list a raft of initiatives with something in common: “They are all in the south of England, the richest part of the country. None address the chronic lack of investment in England’s post-industrial north. Instead, Starmer is going for growth by boosting the belt of prosperity that already surrounds London.”
This is something that was highlighted in Eyes & Ears 14.03.25 by Tees Valley mayor Ben Houchen, who said the Government’s Office for Investment was trying to direct Saudi investment away from the North East towards the Oxford-Cambridge Arc.
Kim McGuinness told the LDRS: “The old way of working out what is value for money has got to change. A system is broken if it never invests in the North and uses some spurious calculation so that civil servants can direct more money into the South East.”
It’s getting worse
Women in the north can expect to live fewer years in good health, are more likely to be unable to work due to long-term sickness and disability, and are losing out on £158million worth of wages a week compared to other areas of England.
The findings from Health Equity North academics were presented at the organisation’s Woman of the North Summit at Durham University this week, held in partnership with the Northern Health Science Alliance and Leigh Day solicitors.
The summit saw the launch of the Women of the North Charter, which calls on mayors to use their powers to create fairer opportunities across education, work, welfare and health for women. Northern mayors Kim McGuinness and Tracy Brabin not only back the charter but spoke at the event.
Hannah Davies, executive director at Health Equity North, said: “Our new analysis shows that the situation for women in the North of England is worse than we originally thought.”
What the…
The biggest surprise in the council elections came in County Durham - not because Reform won but because of the scale of their victory and the fact that Labour, who had been dominant for 100 years, were left with just four councillors.
‘What the hell just happened’ is not only the British entry in the Eurovision Song Contest, it is the starting point for Professor Bob Hudson’s analysis for Eyes & Ears on the elections: Can Labour recover and can Reform govern?
This column was emailed to subscribers yesterday and is available on eyesandearsnortheast.substack.com which contains an archive of all our articles.
Nigel Farage said Reform would bring in auditors, eradicate what Bob described as an imagined army of officers working on diversity and climate change, and end working from home - only for it to emerge that there are nine roles for Reform currently being advertised on the Greenhouse jobs site with home working in the location, including a regional campaign and training manager in the North East.
Bob, visiting professor in public policy at Sunderland University, said: “Time will tell if Durham’s new rulers are ready to ditch protest politics for sober administration, but the signs are not encouraging. The populist modus operandi is to stir up grievance and turn division into votes.
“It works for campaigning but not for the hard yards required for complex and effective governance.”
Welfare call
Seven North East MPs are among 42 Labour signatories to a letter calling on Prime Minister Keir Starmer to reconsider planned cuts to welfare payments. They are: Ian Lavery (Blyth and Ashington); Emma Lewell-Buck (South Shields); Mary Glindon (Newcastle East and Wallsend); Kate Osborne (Jarrow and Gateshead East); Grahame Morris (Easington); Mary Kelly Foy (Durham); Andy McDonald (Middlesbrough).
Let there be light
The National Wealth Fund and several banks are providing a £1.35bn loan to upgrade the power grid between Scotland and the North East, to put an end to so much power generated by Scottish turbines being wasted because the grid lacks capacity.
The Eastern Green Link (EGL) project will carry electricity from Torness in south-east Scotland to Hawthorn Pit substation in County Durham via the North Sea. Another line, the EGL four, will carry power from Fife to Lincolnshire (where Reform’s Dame Andrea Jenkyns has been elected mayor - and you know what Farage has said about Net Zero).
When bottlenecks happen on the grid, wind farms are paid to stop generating electricity and gas power stations are paid extra to supply the energy needed. Energy firm Drax estimates this cost about £1.23bn last year.
John Flint, CEO at National Wealth Fund, said: “Upgrading the power grid is one of the most significant barriers to decarbonising our economy. Our financing will help address the grid constraints that make electricity more expensive for businesses and consumers.”
Audit concerns
Tees Valley Combined Authority’s auditors, EY, have written to secretary of state Angela Rayner to raise concerns about the challenges they are facing and the “limited engagement” they are receiving from the authority.
The Teesside Lead says criticisms stem from the period between EY being unable to sign off TVCA’s accounts last year, and last month where it found the authority’s inability to deliver value for money “are ongoing and significantly impacting on the authority’s ability to meet its statutory reporting obligations.”
A growing concern
Just weeks after the Government stepped in to take over British Steel, the company is looking to take on an additional 180 workers - 165 in Scunthorpe, and 17 at Teesside and Skinningrove.
Poverty pilot
Families in South Durham can now apply for a childcare grant as part of a pilot scheme launched by North East mayor Kim McGuinness’s Child Poverty Reduction Unit.
The mayor said the grant would be "tested in Durham, reviewed to strengthen the offer and rolled out to help more parents as quickly as possible".
Up to £6,888 will be available over a six-month period and the aim is to extend it across the North East Combined Authority area in 2026.
Working class act
New Writing North has launched a literary magazine and platform for working class writers called The Bee which will be edited by author Richard Benson, a former editor of culture and fashion mag The Face.
The Bee is being supported by publishing house Faber as well as actor and philanthropist Michael Sheen, who in 2021 co-founded A Writing Chance, the successful national scheme for working class writers, along with New Writing North, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and Northumbria University.
Claire Malcolm, CEO of New Writing North, said: “There’s never been so much debate about class in the creative industries but nothing has changed and things are actually getting worse and inequality more entrenched. Hence the need to make our own reality. Talent is classless. Opportunity, however, is class-bound. The Bee is an urgent response to that.”
You can read David Whetstone’s article for Cultured. North East here.
A quick word
The ceremony for the prestigious Mercury Prize will be held at Newcastle’s Utilita Arena in October - the first time the awards will have taken place outside London. The jury in the trial of two former friends accused of chopping down the Sycamore Gap tree has started to consider its verdicts. They will reconvene at Newcastle Crown Court today. Wimbledon, the Tour de France and more then 100 films will be part of the daily free open-air cinema experience as NE1’s Screen on the Green returns to Old Eldon Square in Newcastle from June 30. Gateshead is stepping up its fight against fly-tipping by buying a number of hidden surveillance cameras - although they can’t be used until “legal complexities of directed surveillance have been overcome”. Three hundred workers at the HMRC office in Benton Park View in Newcastle have voted to extend strike action until June 6 is support of sacked union reps. A teenager has been charged with criminal damage after a JCB was driven into seven new unoccupied council homes at Hurworth Moor, Darlington.
Home at last
Northumberland-based Offstone Publishing already publishes tourist guides covering the Lake District and Cumbria, North Yorkshire, and the Tees Valley and County Durham. They’ve now got round to doing one for their home county. The 100-page magazine features stunning photography and is free to pick up across the region and beyond. It’s also available to download free here.
Backing the arts
With the Government currently reviewing all spending, the Campaign for the Arts has launched a petition to remind Chancellor Rachel Reeves of the benefits that the arts brings to peoples lives. You can sign their petition here.
Business bites
Energy giant Ørsted has halted the development of the Hornsea 4 offshore wind project due to rising costs, supply chain challenges, and increased risks. Karbon Homes has secured £200 million in new loan facilities from Santander, HSBC and Nationwide to deliver new housing and improve existing stock across the North East and Yorkshire. Kromek Group has posted its first ever full-year profit following a record-breaking 12 months on the back of a major deal with global medical giant Siemens Healthineers and growing international demand for its technology. Dubai International Capital founder Dr Al-Ansari has been appointed non-executive director and deputy chair of Develop North which is managed by Newcastle-based fund management company Tier One Capital. Tilley Bailey & Irvine, one of the largest law firms in the Tees Valley, have bought Sunderland-based Scanlans Solicitors. Six North East businesses have been recognised in the King's Awards for Enterprise. Newcastle-based Kinewell Energy, which develops software tools to reduce costs and improve energy yields in offshore wind farms, was recognised in the International Trade category. The other five were ZIGUP, JR Dynamics, John King Chains, Elfab, and Shared Interest Society. Leading UK offshore energy support base the Port of Blyth has reported a record-breaking financial performance for the fourth consecutive year. Joe Docherty chair of Durham University and the Northern Powergrid Foundation, has joined Hellens Residential as a non-executive director. Gateshead-based MGM Construction has tripled its turnover in four years, with more growth and jobs on the horizon.
2002 ad break
We’ve already given you Guinness, Cinzano, Campari, now it’s time for a drink closer to home - John Smith’s. The Peter Kay diving ad was first shown in 2002 (23 years ago!) as part of the brand’s ‘No Nonsense’ campaign.
Kay, under the name John Smith, was representing Great Britain in a diving competition and earns perfect scores for his running bomb, soaking the judges and earning perfect scores. And leaving viewers with a glimpse of a brickie’s bum.
THE WIDER VIEW
All that glitters…
“If my children come home from a party wearing glitter facepaint, I make sure they don’t wash it off. Not with a flannel down the sink, anyway,” writes Anna Turns in The Conversation.
Every tiny piece of glitter is a sparkly microplastic. So she makes sure it all gets wiped off and put in the bin - because every plughole eventually leads to the ocean, and scientists at Trinity College Dublin have discovered that glitter is more than just litter.
Their research shows glitter that makes its way into the sea is actively disrupting a crystal-forming process known as biomineralisation, which affects how marine life such as sea urchins, corals and oysters form their shells and skeletons. This mineral formation also contributes to how the ocean helps regulate Earth’s climate by moving carbon through the planet. So the consequences could be far from pretty.
98% tax rate - and the rich paid less
It's sometimes said that we should go back to the tax system of the 1950s, 60s, and 70s, with very high rates of tax on the highest earners, writes Dan Neidle in his Substack column this week. “We’ve spoken to people who were around at the time - both tax avoiders and HMRC officials - and looked at the data.
“Our conclusion: the apparently progressive tax system of the post-war period was an illusion, with myriad ways for those on high incomes to pay little or no tax. Nobody, whatever their view of taxing the rich, should want to go back to that.”
Go with your gut
It was supposed to improve efficiency and fairness. It has become a threat to both. Jobseekers are using AI to apply for roles, while companies are using it to whittle down candidates. As the FT reports in this free-to-read article, it is turning into a big mess for everyone involved.
I’ve often been asked what I look for when hiring staff and, truth is, I look and listen to an interviewee and ask myself if I would be happy to go for a social drink with the person.
If the answer is ‘no’ then it renders the rest of the interview meaningless. Only once did I go against this. Two colleagues persuaded me to hire someone who failed my test (I was a bit unsettled by the way he looked at me) and within a few months I was regretting not listening to my gut instinct - and that’s something AI will never be able to replicate.
And finally
