Teesside was the first area to vote for a Metropolitan Mayor in 2017 under the Conservatives idea to try to get votes in the North. No other region was interested at the time. We needed it. That is why we got money for the last 7 years over Newcastle and Yorkshire who now, unsurprisingly, now want their share of the pie. We all know most of the money would have gone to Newcastle if they had applied for it in 2017.
Forget about the politics.
Teesside will, hopefully, benefit because Houchen is staying in charge. At least it keeps the rest of the Country talking about Teesside. We are Teesside, an anomaly. We have only been here about 150 years built on iron and steel and ICI.
It will be interesting to see what happens when Labour get into Government this year but they will have to look after us now. We will not be ignored.