Our report card shows that there's a long way to go

LAST year’s mayoral and national elections saw Labour take a clean sweep of seats in the North East for the first time ever.

- GRAEME WHITFIELD

With both Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and North East mayor Kim McGuinness promising to improve lives for people in the region, The Journal set Labour challenges in four key areas.

Labour's first year in power nationally has been challenging at best, with early scandals around gifts of clothing and concert tickets being followed by policy mistakes (and U-turns) on winter fuel for pensioners, child grooming gangs and welfare reforms. Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ October Budget raised much needed money to boost public services but the added costs on business have proved unpopular.

Most of Labour's achievements in the past year have not been particularly well celebrated in the UK. Trade deals with the US, EU and India are all welcome, and Sir Keir was praised for standing by Ukraine when American president publicly fell out with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

But Sir Keir has admitted himself that his achievements abroad have been not matched in the UK. May's local elections saw Reform taking control of longtime Labour stronghold Durham County Council, as well as making inroads in Northumberland and coming close to snatching the North Tyneside mayoralty. The party could easily lose control of some of the five councils it controls in Tyne and Wear when elections are held next year.

Reflecting on the Government's first year, Henri Murison, chief executive of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, said: “This Government has made some significant strides in its first 12 months, including changing the fiscal rules so that we can afford investment in infrastructure like transport and GB energy as well as reforming the Green Book to make the rules of the game fairer.

“However, we still await the detail of Northern Powerhouse Rail, a solution to the issues with the West Coast Main Line left as uncosted liabilities following Rishi Sunak’s botched cancellation of HS2 and the government’s wider infrastructure pipeline.