Category: Politics

The funding will create new training opportunities for Teesside workers, including builders, carers, and engineers. It is part of a wider initiative by Labour’s Plan for Change, backed by a £3 billion apprenticeship budget. The investment is aimed at alleviating skill shortages and reducing the need for migrant workers in the area. The programme will…

The announcement from the Government comes days after a prison officer was seriously injured in a stabbing at HMP Long Lartin, and a month after an attack by terrorist Hashem Abedi in Durham high security prison Frankland. The Justice Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, specified that this new measure would be applicable to close supervision centres, separation centres,…

Durham County Council probed allegations that several newly elected Reform members worked within the council, conflicting with their roles as councillors.  Andrew Kilburn resigned after failing to declare that he worked for the local authority just over a week after the local elections on May 1. The Reform member was elected with 1,007 votes alongside fellow Reform…

Established by national leader Ed Davey, the party has said it will “take a coordinated approach to opposition and [hold] them to account.” Cllr Hopgood led the local authority between 2021 and 2025 as part of the Joint Administration – a coalition of Liberal Democrats, Conservatives, and Independents.  The Framwellgate and Newton Hall member urged…

Speaking in the House of Commons, Ms Foy highlighted concerns raised by the Prison Officers’ Association and called on the Government to move quickly in considering the routine issuing of stab-proof vests across the high-security estate. The Labour MP asked: “While I was grateful for the Minister for Prisons’ reply to my correspondence, I did note the…

The member for Chester-le-Street North was elected by fellow councillors on Wednesday evening.  Former GB News presenter Darren Grimes, councillor for Annfield Plain and Tanfield, is the party’s deputy leader.  Reform UK swept to victory in May 2’s local elections in County Durham by winning 65 seats and gaining overall control of the council. The…

This year’s event at The Sands in Durham felt ‘much more like a protest’ than previous gatherings, the its founder said. It comes after a war of words between newly elected council deputy leader Darren Grimes, who is gay, and critics of the council’s decision to lower the flag at the council’s Aykley Heads base. “With the…

Nigel Farage’s party would turn every seat in the region turquoise if an election was held now, Electoral Calculus predicts. It would represent a complete reversal of General Election results just a year ago which saw Labour win back the so-called ‘red wall’ seats it lost in 2019 – reducing the Conservative party to only one MP…

Former Conservative MP Peter Gibson said work to renovate the site was actually started by local Tories and Stockton West MP Matt Vickers.  In a post on social media, Mr Gibson revealed that the sculpture near Morton Park is located within the Stockton West constituency, saying: “It’s important to know where responsibilities for something lie.”…

Bishop Auckland MP Sam Rushworth said today’s younger generation has been “robbed of the opportunities that it deserves” as opportunities and facilities aimed at young people diminish.  MPs warned the impact of the cost-of-living crisis and the Covid pandemic posed significant challenges on young people’s futures.  Labour’s Sam Rushworth said youth services being cut by…