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By ROB PARSONS - July 13 2022
It's politics' own version of the X-Factor, and with the first round of voting this afternoon meaning at least one candidate will be eliminated the contest to be the next Tory leader is turning increasingly bitter.
Ex-Chancellor and frontrunner Rishi Sunak faced claims this morning from supporters of rival Liz Truss that he implemented “economically damaging” policies while in No 11 and that his campaign has engaged in “dirty tricks” to manipulate the leadership contest.
But with the words 'levelling up' now apparently toxic and featuring barely at all in the campaign to be the next Prime Minister, who are Northern Tory MPs backing today?
While Mr Sunak has a decent smattering of Northern supporters - with six publicly declared - it's former Army officer Tom Tugendhat with seemingly the most support as our graphic below shows.
One of those backing Mr Tugendhat is Northern Research Group chairman and Lancashire MP Jake Berry , who has now written to all eight candidates with his demands for anyone who "wishes to gain significant support from the North".
He said the 50 members of his group of backbench Northern Tories were "calling on leadership candidates to support the Northern Agenda" - a sentiment this newsletter would also happily endorse.
Among his asks is a Minister for the North, "with direct responsibility for local growth and levelling up, who has a seat at the cabinet table and the levers of a department for growth at their fingertips".
He also calls for two new vocational institutions in the North to be the equivalents of Oxford and Cambridge, a right to devolution for all areas and a 'levelling up formula' to equalise government spending.
Mr Sunak, Ms Truss, Mr Tugendhat, Kemi Badenoch, Penny Mordaunt, Jeremy Hunt, Nadhim Zahawi and Suella Braverman will all be on the ballot as MPs begin the process of voting to select the final two candidates.
Anyone who fails to get 30 votes this afternoon will be eliminated from the contest, with the last-placed candidate losing their place even if they get above that threshold.
Airport may close as it's 'no longer commercially viable'
There was breaking transport news from South Yorkshire this morning as it emerged that Doncaster Sheffield Airport could close because it is "no longer commercially viable".
As the Doncaster Free Press reports , it comes after budget airline Wizz Air announced it was cancelling all flights earlier this year and the departure of a number of top bosses.
In a statement, the airport's board said it had "begun a review of strategic options" but had "reluctantly concluded that aviation activity on the site may no longer be commercially viable".
Robert Hough, Chairman of Peel Airports Group, which includes Doncaster Sheffield Airport, said: “It is a critical time for aviation globally. Despite pandemic related travel restrictions slowly drawing to a close, we are still facing ongoing obstacles and dynamic long-term threats to the future of the aviation industry."
Teesside 'needs more than a sticking plaster' for child poverty
Child poverty was our top story in yesterday's newsletter and there was a figure that bears repeating: In the Middlesbrough Parliamentary constituency more than half of all children are living in poverty.
But in a town that has one Labour and one Tory MP, there are unsurprisingly different views on how best to tackle its sky-high child poverty rates and those of the wider North East.
Labour Middlesbrough MP Andy McDonald said: “This is as shameful as it is heartbreaking. These are not statistics – they are children who do not have enough to eat in this rich country of ours.
“It lays bare the criminal failure of the Conservatives in Government since 2010. No amount of unrelenting optimism, massaging figures, ‘levelling up’ or ‘building back better’ can mask the stark daily reality of poverty for so many of our children in Middlesbrough. This Tory Government has failed.”
But Conservative Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland MP Simon Clarke said: “While of course the Government should do what it can to support families in the short term, we cannot defeat poverty by merely treating its symptoms. Teessiders need more than a sticking plaster – we’ve had that for decades – it doesn’t work. What we need is a cure.
“That’s precisely why we have such huge investment laser-targeted directly at Teesside. Ultimately it is the growth, jobs and prosperity that are now flooding into Teesside, thanks to levelling up, that will give families and individuals the powerful opportunities that can consign poverty to the past."
MP accused of 'pulling strings' to get crime tsar elected
Separately, Simon Clarke was involved in another local row today as he was accused by a fellow Conservative of pulling strings to help Teesside 's police and crime commissioner get on the ballot.
Lee Holmes, a former chair of the South Tees Conservative Association, claimed the Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland MP helped Cleveland Police and Crime Commissioner Steve Turner get on the party's list as a candidate for the role after his application was rejected, as Local Democracy Reporter Emily Craigie writes .
Mr Turner, who was previously Mr Clarke's office manager, admitted he had received a police caution, from more than 20 years ago, in the 1990s after handling stolen goods worth £15 while a manager at a supermarket.
And Mr Holmes said: “It’s all very murky, I can’t understand, with a party as thorough as the Conservative Party, how someone with that in their background got on the candidates’ list.” There is no legal requirement for Mr Turner to reveal a caution from the 1990s during the election process which saw him become PCC last year.
In response, Mr Clarke said: “Steve’s candidacy was in doubt of being taken forward owing to a technical aspect of the party’s selection process.
“This was nothing to do with any suggestion regarding Steve’s character. It was following a written exercise which was assessed by CCHQ staff from outside Teesside. Conservatives from across the Cleveland Police force area agreed that it was our collective view that Steve was a credible candidate to go forward to our members and messaged the party to that effect."
'This is not just about South Ribble, it's about England'
A veteran MP has blasted plans for a 1,300-home development on greenbelt land in Lancashire , describing opposition to the proposal as a “fight for future generations”.
Nigel Evans said he had been left moved by the testimony of tenant farmers who face losing their livelihoods if the Cuerdale Garden Village in South Ribble gets the go-ahead.
The Tory MP for Ribble Valley was speaking to the Local Democracy Reporter Paul Faulkner after attending a public meeting about the proposed scheme, which would also provide business and commercial space – as well as a new primary school – on a sprawling site to the east of the M6 in Samlesbury.
The proposed plot sits just within Mr Evans’ constituency and he has vowed to ask the government to step in and have the final say if the blueprint – brought forward by North West-based Story Homes – is ultimately given the go-ahead by South Ribble Borough Council later this year.
He said the plans exposed the need to defend the “principle of greenbelt preservation” far beyond the borders of any one borough.
“This is not just about South Ribble – this is about England. We are fighting battles, not just for the current farmers and the people currently who live in and around that area, [but] for future generations – that they will have this beautiful countryside intact."
Yorkshire town 'needs to rethink its relationship with retail'
Like many areas of the North, Barnsley faces some tricky decisions about what best to do with its shops and town centre spaces after the pandemic changed shopping habits.
And a new report says the South Yorkshire town “may need to rethink its relationship with retail” and reduce its floorspace by “up to a third”, as Local Democracy Reporter Danielle Andrews writes.
The report, by the consultancy firm Urbed, states that the retail market in Barnsley has been “significantly affected” by the coronavirus outbreak and lockdown restrictions, although Barnsley has “fared better than some similar towns in the UK”.
It adds that Barnsley’s retail and office space is expanding through the Glass Works and The Seam Digital Campus, “at a time when demand nationally is decreasing. “These two combined factors will likely pose challenges for the town centre in the future.
“Barnsley is in an excellent position to respond to the emerging trends following the pandemic. It may need…to rethink its relationship with retail, reducing its floorspace by up to a third, but it is well placed to plug the gaps left behind.”
The report makes four recommendations for the “post-covid recovery” of Barnsley town centre, including removing “surplus retail” and monitoring the economic health of the town centre “to ensure problems are identified early and responded to”.
Boxers' clash of heads helps club avoid breaching 11pm curfew
There was disappointment for Leeds boxing fans last September when local fighter Josh Warrington 's 'career-defining' rematch in the city with Mauricio Lara was called off after just two rounds following a clash of heads.
But the freak incident may have been a saving grace for Leeds Rhinos rugby club as Headingley's rugby ground would have broken strict licensing rules if the bout had gone the full 12 rounds.
Bosses admitted an 11pm curfew, imposed by Leeds City Council to protect neighbours, would have been breached because the earlier undercard bouts all unexpectedly went the distance, on September 4.
As Local Democracy Reporter David Spereall writes , it comes as Rhinos’ neighbours are fighting its bid to host more boxing and music events in future, following noise issues and drunken behaviour by supporters leaving the ground after the Warrington fight.
One local resident told a public hearing yesterday that “no-one signed up to live next door to a boxing venue.” Rhinos admitted they got their noise management “wrong” last year, but have learnt lessons and are working to prevent a repeat.
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Northern Stories
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Liverpool ’s Premier League and Champions League winning manager and a star of some of TV’s best loved shows are to be given the freedom of the city . When it meets in an extraordinary session next week, Liverpool City Council is recommended to award honorary Freedom of the City status to Jurgen Klopp and Royle Family star Sue Johnston. In being awarded the highest civil honour the city can offer, Mr Klopp joins Liverpool legends such as Steven Gerrard and Kenny Dalglish.
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An MP made an appeal to the animal-loving Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle as he called for support for a new law to ensure animals are scanned for microchips before being euthanised. Tory Bury North MP James Daly wants it to be a legal requirement for vets to scan healthy dogs for a microchip in order to contact their owners before they are put down. He also called for local councils to be required to scan dead cats found after traffic accidents in order to reunite them with their owners.
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Arriva bus drivers in parts of Yorkshire have rejected a new pay offer and were due to walk out again today, union bosses have said. Staff at Arriva Yorkshire initially went on strike on 6 June, forcing more than 300 buses off the road. Buses resumed on 1 July after a revised offer by the firm, but yesterday Unite said it had been rejected. It said members would begin action from 2am today, the BBC reports . Arriva said the announcement's timing was "appalling".
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A multi-million pound court case over Blackburn ’s delayed and over-budget £8.4million new bus station starts in earnest today . Blackburn with Darwen Council is being sued for up to £3million in damages by the administrators of Thomas Barnes and Sons Ltd over the premature termination of the contract to build the transport hub. The Bury-based firm, which has gone bust, was engaged to construct the bus station at a cost estimate of £4.7m but the project was plagued by delays.
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A Commons debate was held last night over falling water levels at the Sankey Canal between Widnes and St Helens. Halton MP Derek Twigg secured the adjournment debate over the canal’s drastically reduced water levels following the closure of Fiddler’s Ferry Power Station, which fed the canal with water. The resulting reductions have led to a fish needing to be rescued in a major operation, with a campaign group being formed to help save it. When it opened in 1757 the canal was England's first of the Industrial revolution.
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Liverpool council has hit its financial target for the controversial green bin charge four months after the scheme was launched. In April, the local authority began its first fortnightly collections for garden waste after introducing a £40 annual charge to residents choosing to opt in. The scheme was introduced in a bid to address some of the council’s financial issues and raise £1.7m. The target has now been hit eight months ahead of schedule.
