Labour councillors have failed in a bid to have Durham shun a multi-billion pound devolution deal that would create a new North East mayor.
A deal uniting seven council areas under a new combined authority is moving ever closer, in a major shakeup of the region’s political landscape that would deliver major new funding and powers. Labour opposition councillors and MPs in County Durham have been vehemently opposed to the idea of their area joining with Newcastle, Gateshead, Sunderland, South Tyneside, North Tyneside, and Northumberland in the pact.
But county councillors rejected the party’s attempt on Wednesday to commit the council to instead pursue its own single-county devolution agreement, an alternative that one critic has now branded a "dictatorship". That vote came as politicians elsewhere in the region appear to be moving firmly towards allowing Durham to join the deal, something which Government ministers are also known to be keen on.
