Senior MPs across County Durham have backed calls for the county to get its own unique devolution deal.
Labour MPs united to call for council bosses to abandon plans to be part of a super-sized combined authority that would stretch from the Scottish Borders to Barnard Castle, including a mayor based in Tyneside, overseeing nearly two million people.
An alternative plan, offered to Durham County Council by the government last year, would see powers and funding taken from Whitehall and handed just to County Durham, in a so-called County Deal.
Labour MPs across the county have said the time has come to put Durham first, speaking in support of a survey, issued across the county by Labour to gauge public opinion on devolution.
North Durham MP, Kevan Jones, said:
“Any devolution deal must put County Durham’s interest first. County Durham is one of the largest local authorities in the country and is big enough to have its own defined deal.
“My concern about the county being forced into a larger city-based region deal is our interests will be lost. A devolution deal for County Durham must, as a minimum, not only have real powers devolved to it but the finance, which has been taken away from it in recent years, including making good on the European money it has missed out on.’’
Easington MP, Grahame Morris, said:
“County Durham should be an economic powerhouse. We have an abundance of history, culture and heritage, innovative businesses and an export-led manufacturing base.
“Whitehall views the ‘North’ as a single, uniform block, and fails to understand our unique local identities within the North East. County Durham cannot be marginalised and forced into a generic devolution deal.
“We need our local leaders to secure the promised County Durham devolution deal. I am delighted County Durham Labour is leading the way, engaging with the public about our future, particularly in the absence of any communications from the ruling Tory-Lib Dem Council Coalition.”
City of Durham MP, Mary Kelly Foy, said:
“All too often our county has been overlooked by Officials in Whitehall. That’s why we need a bespoke county deal to ensure that people, businesses and communities across Durham are at the forefront of every decision we make and every pound spent.
“While our friends and neighbours in Tyne and Wear and Northumberland secure new funding and powers, the County Durham coalition appear to be in paralysis, keeping residents in the dark and unable to offer basic details about the deals on the table.
“Previously, the coalition wanted no part in a supersized mayoralty, yet now they appear poised to sell Durham short in a backroom deal with the Government. It’s clear only Labour who will stand up for our residents and deliver a county deal with Durham’s interests at heart.”
The MPs were speaking after County Durham Labour launched a devolution survey, seeking views on devolution from people across the county.
County Durham Labour Leader, Cllr Carl Marshall, said that County Durham’s 500,000 residents and growing economy meant it was well placed to take advantage of its own unique deal. In the last decade, County Durham has secured hundreds of millions of pounds of private investment at the likes of Bishop Auckland town centre, the largest logistics centre in the region at Integra 61, and Hitachi at Newton Aycliffe.
Home to two UNESCO world heritage sites, the county’s cultural offer attracts 20 million visitors a year spending £1bn.
It is the largest part of the North East economy, and the last Labour administration planned to grow this with 30,000 new jobs over the next decade – a plan shelved by the Coalition.
Cllr Marshall said:
“County Durham has huge potential and with the right investment and leadership, we could establish ourselves as a powerhouse of the North. It’s great that Tyne and Wear are in talks to get a proper mayor. But I think a patch that would cover Berwick to Barnard Castle is too big, and a mayor for all of that would inevitably overlook some of us.
“I’m a huge supporter of devolution. We need to take power out of the hands of officials in London and bring it back to the North. But a one-size fits all approach will never work.
“It’s time to put County Durham first.”
The survey is available here: https://countydurhamlabour.co.uk/poll/