People knocking Teessiders for voting for Houchen.

[Mendieta14]

The real answer is labour haven't taken people for granted, they just don't have tens of thousands of pounds for constant leaflets, boards on farmland, huge social media ads etc

it wouldn't have cost anything significant for starmer and co to have made a few visits..he made one stop on teesside?

 

[Billyzin]

Starmer and the entire shadow cabinet were, "camped out on Teesside", according to Houchen himself.

 

[Boro4life]

Yeah Steve Gibson even came out to say Ben is dodgy

 

[equaliser]

hate the thought of the Houch having some power in the Tees Valley, because he wears a blue tie, trying to make this depleted area great again, rather than being a stagnant area it has been for the last few decades a

Look, the area was depleted by the Tories in the first place - catastrophically and it would seem in many ways irrevocably - and as a consequence failed really to benefit from any economic upturns the country has enjoyed subsequently. That is the REALITY on Teesside and in many other UK areas besides - no serious person disputes it, certainly if they lived through it - and that is why people of a certain age can never forgive the Tories.

What is also not in serious dispute is that when the party was obliged, post-Brexit to take account of the needs of the 'left behind' in Teesside and elsewhere, they produced a slogan, 'Leveling Up', which, while highly persuasive, was never systematic about tackling inequality. On the contrary, like all Tory boosterism, its 'policies', such as they were, followed the pattern of 'divide and rule' - just as Thatcher's flagship policies such as privatisation and council house sales had. Funds allocated under Levelling Up overwhelmingly went to areas that had returned Tory MPs - the epitome of pork barrel politics. Hence, people like Houchen get bungs, to distribute in questionable ways, but the poor of Liverpool, say, can go swivel.

By contrast, the last Labour Government at least brought in policies like Sure Start, tax credits, the minimum wage, which help alleviate countrywide, if not fully redress, the ever-widening inequality set in train by the mass de-industrialisation under Thatcher.

One more thing, at various times over the past 45 years, certain parts of the country did benefit from economic growth, some of which 'trickled down' to the working classes. However, much of that growth was essentially caused by property booms financed by cheap credit. When the taps were turned off, globally, in 2008, the underlying basis of the UK economy was shown to be fatally weak: low investment, low wage, low productivity economy in which capital had become addicted not to entrepreneurialism but to rent-seeking and profit extraction via mergers, takeovers and asset-stripping. Since then, Tory policies have revolved around ensuring one thing above all: that property price inflation was broadly maintained and with it the illusion of 'prosperity' enjoyed by anyone owning their own home - and especially by those owning more than one home. No de-industrialised working class area will ever be 'made great again' by throwing taxpayers' money at vanity airports, freeports and the like. They will be made great by providing secure homes to those locked out of the property market, and by proper state-backed targeted investment in future-proof industries and technologies.

 

[LessoftheLip]

So the local Labour Party isn't the Labour Party?

And you wonder why people are confused about what's being offered and who they're supposed to be voting for.

Not in the mood to argue with you. You know what I was intending to get across in as much that Chris wasn't imposed on the local Labour Party members by the central Labour Party.

You don't support the Labour Party, you're not a member of the Labour Party but you like to chirp from the sidelines.

 

[Scrote]

Not in the mood to argue with you. You know what I was intending to get across in as much that Chris wasn't imposed on the local Labour Party members by the central Labour Party.

You don't support the Labour Party, you're not a member of the Labour Party but you like to chirp from the sidelines.

First of all, I voted for the Labour Mayoral candidate. If that isn't supporting the Labour Party I'm not sure what is.

I won't vote for Anna Turley for a whole host of reasons. That is on the Labour Party for selecting her to stand in Redcar.

I don't have to be a member of the Labour Party to criticise it when I see them failing the people of Teesside. I'm a member of the Teesside public. Labour's failings affect me.

If the local Labour members decided that rewarding Chris McEwan was more important than fielding a genuine contender then they've failed the Teesside public and deserve to be criticised.

Considering the amount of interference the national party have had further north, the fact they didn't interfere here means they either agreed with the candidate choice or didn't care enough about the area to get involved.

No matter how you try to spin it, Houchen's re-election has come about because the Labour Party - locally and nationally - didn't do enough to prevent it.

 

[zzzzz]

First of all, I voted for the Labour Mayoral candidate. If that isn't supporting the Labour Party I'm not sure what is.

I won't vote for Anna Turley for a whole host of reasons. That is on the Labour Party for selecting her to stand in Redcar.

I don't have to be a member of the Labour Party to criticise it when I see them failing the people of Teesside. I'm a member of the Teesside public. Labour's failings affect me.

If the local Labour members decided that rewarding Chris McEwan was more important than fielding a genuine contender then they've failed the Teesside public and deserve to be criticised.

Considering the amount of interference the national party have had further north, the fact they didn't interfere here means they either agreed with the candidate choice or didn't care enough about the area to get involved.

No matter how you try to spin it, Houchen's re-election has come about because the Labour Party - locally and nationally - didn't do enough to prevent it.

I'd say it's had more to do with Houchens clever spin over the last couple of years helped by the media in repeating it and swallowed up by the gullible.

 

[Scrote]

I'd say it's had more to do with Houchens clever spin over the last couple of years helped by the media in repeating it and swallowed up by the gullible.

All the more reason for Labour to have put some effort into this election. As mentioned previously, I've not seen a single canvasser over the past couple of months and there aren't any posters up anywhere. Just a vacuum for Houchen and the Tory MPs to lie with impunity.

When you look at the efforts the Labour party went to further north it just reeks of a lack of care for Teesside. I know, from speaking to people and from social media, that this is common theme and is a large factor in the low turnout. People are apathetic because they don't see a viable alternative.

The Tories have been clever to push the "they're all the same" narrative. Labour have done nothing to prove they aren't.

 

[BoroMart]

Anybody knocking people for voting for Houchen (especially ex Teesside folk living outside the area) should look at the facts.

We do look at the facts, many of the facts delivered by private eye are absolutely appalling from someone who claims to be levelling up the north east.

Teesside Airport is back.

It doesn’t have a viable business model, it’s not value for money for the area

As far as the steelworks are concerned they have gone. The site has now been cleared and it is a prime site for redevelopment.

No
One would argue the steelworks site shouldn’t be used to redevelop the area…it’s the dark shady deals for a small number of his closest supporters that’s the problem, the lack of clear decision making in the publics interest. It absolutely stinks of corruption to be honest.

OK, the financial side is suspect but, if you are looking for a job, you are not bothered how the job is created.

If you’ve paid tax, you should be very disturbed by how your tax is being frittered away with small number of jobs being lorded as sacrosanct justification

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

But there isn’t a magic money tree, and in future there will be far more competition for it, so this short term sweetener won’t be available anymore

 

[LessoftheLip]

First of all, I voted for the Labour Mayoral candidate. If that isn't supporting the Labour Party I'm not sure what is.

I won't vote for Anna Turley for a whole host of reasons. That is on the Labour Party for selecting her to stand in Redcar.

I don't have to be a member of the Labour Party to criticise it when I see them failing the people of Teesside. I'm a member of the Teesside public. Labour's failings affect me.

If the local Labour members decided that rewarding Chris McEwan was more important than fielding a genuine contender then they've failed the Teesside public and deserve to be criticised.

Considering the amount of interference the national party have had further north, the fact they didn't interfere here means they either agreed with the candidate choice or didn't care enough about the area to get involved.

No matter how you try to spin it, Houchen's re-election has come about because the Labour Party - locally and nationally - didn't do enough to prevent it.

Loads of monitor ink there. You say you voted for Chris McEwan but whinge about his selection. Stood on the sidelines moaning like the typical socialist you are. If you want change you need to do more than protest. You need tangible action not theory. The opportunity was there for you to have your say but being the needy guy you are the thought of becoming a member of the Labour Party means you can't have your cake and eat it. So you take the easy way out. Typical.

 

[Corcaigh_the_Cat]

Loads of monitor ink there. You say you voted for Chris McEwan but whinge about his selection. Stood on the sidelines moaning like the typical socialist you are. If you want change you need to do more than protest. You need tangible action not theory. The opportunity was there for you to have your say but being the needy guy you are the thought of becoming a member of the Labour Party means you can't have your cake and eat it. So you take the easy way out. Typical.

If you're not a socialist why are you in the Labour Party?

I'm a member, I feel that the local membership have made poor decisions over selection for different roles, Turley and McEwan being two of them.

 

[LessoftheLip]

If you're not a socialist why are you in the Labour Party?

As far as I'm aware being a socialist is not a prerequisite to being a member of the Labour Party. And as I've never voted for anyone other than Labour in my whole lifetime I think I'm qualified to have an opinion.

I'm a member, I feel that the local membership have made poor decisions over selection for different roles, Turley and McEwan being two of them.

I can't talk about Anna Turley because I wasn't resident in the CLP when the selection was made.

Regarding the Tees Valley Mayoral selection I've been quite clear that I voted for someone other than Chris. But that's democracy.

But I do get annoyed when people criticise the membership for who it has selected when whatever reason they're not a member themselves.

Out of interest, did you vote for Chris in the selection process?

 

[Corcaigh_the_Cat]

As far as I'm aware being a socialist is not a prerequisite to being a member of the Labour Party. And as I've never voted for anyone other than Labour in my whole lifetime I think I'm qualified to have an opinion.


I can't talk about Anna Turley because I wasn't resident in the CLP when the selection was made.

Regarding the Tees Valley Mayoral selection I've been quite clear that I voted for someone other than Chris. But that's democracy.

But I do get annoyed when people criticise the membership for who it has selected when whatever reason they're not a member themselves.

Out of interest, did you vote for Chris in the selection process?

I didn't vote for Chris, nor did I vote for the candidate who hopes to be Stockton North's next MP.

McDonald at least looks like he's capable of holding his own in debate, McEwan never has. I did wonder during the hustings how some of the candidates actually made it that far, some were frankly pathetic.

 

[WoodallServices]

Look, the area was depleted by the Tories in the first place - catastrophically and it would seem in many ways irrevocably - and as a consequence failed really to benefit from any economic upturns the country has enjoyed subsequently. That is the REALITY on Teesside and in many other UK areas besides - no serious person disputes it, certainly if they lived through it - and that is why people of a certain age can never forgive the Tories.

What is also not in serious dispute is that when the party was obliged, post-Brexit to take account of the needs of the 'left behind' in Teesside and elsewhere, they produced a slogan, 'Leveling Up', which, while highly persuasive, was never systematic about tackling inequality. On the contrary, like all Tory boosterism, its 'policies', such as they were, followed the pattern of 'divide and rule' - just as Thatcher's flagship policies such as privatisation and council house sales had. Funds allocated under Levelling Up overwhelmingly went to areas that had returned Tory MPs - the epitome of pork barrel politics. Hence, people like Houchen get bungs, to distribute in questionable ways, but the poor of Liverpool, say, can go swivel.

By contrast, the last Labour Government at least brought in policies like Sure Start, tax credits, the minimum wage, which help alleviate countrywide, if not fully redress, the ever-widening inequality set in train by the mass de-industrialisation under Thatcher.

One more thing, at various times over the past 45 years, certain parts of the country, did benefit from economic growth some of which 'trickled down' to the working classes. However, much of that growth was essentially caused by property booms financed by cheap credit. When the taps were turned off, globally, in 2008, the underlying basis of the UK economy was shown to be fatally weak: low investment, low wage, low productivity economy in which capital had become addicted not to entrepreneurialism but to rent-seeking and profit extraction via mergers, takeovers and asset-stripping. Since then, Tory policies have revolved around ensuring one thing above all: that property price inflation was broadly maintained and with it the illusion of 'prosperity' enjoyed by anyone owning their own home - and especially by those owning more than one home. No de-industrialised working class area will ever be 'made great again' by throwing taxpayers' money at vanity airports, freeports and the like. They will be made great by providing secure homes to those locked out of the property market, and by proper state-backed targeted investment in future-proof industries and technologies.

Absolutely spot on……as others have also been on this thread….except the Tory FanBoys!

 

[northernrower]

Anybody knocking people for voting for Houchen (especially ex Teesside folk living outside the area) should look at the facts. I didn’t vote for him because I don’t vote for a party who are only interested in making money and looking after themselves. However I am now retired and you have to look at the Teessiders who are working age or the teenagers who are looking to work here in the future.
Teesside Airport is back. You might not think it is important but international businessman do. If you are trying to create jobs for the 21st Century you need to be able to fly people into Teesside, not Newcastle or Leeds Bradford. We had a record number of passengers in 2006 of 900,000 but instead of going upwards it went down under Peel. It is important.
As far as the steelworks are concerned they have gone. The site has now been cleared and it is a prime site for redevelopment. It has a river and carbon catchment and green energy companies etc are going to be built on the site. The Conservatives have also relocated a big treasury site out of London to Darlington. OK, the financial side is suspect but, if you are looking for a job, you are not bothered how the job is created.
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. We had people coming to work here from all over England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. If we had just gone with what the rest of the Country thought we would do then would have been ignored yet again. No one town in Teesside has City status. 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.

Ignore the laughs and the childish replies, you've put a good post together there.

Whether the majority of the bullies on this board like it or not, they are in the minority. They speak with aggressive tones and hound those with a different opinion. But that's usually the case - the silent majority decided to vote for Houchen.

 

[northernrower]

I caught up with some friends yesterday and the subject got onto the election - all voted for Houchen. I quickly realised I was in the minority at the table. To be honest, I couldn’t be bothered challenging it as it wasn’t worth my time and disruption to my breakfast.

What I quickly realised though is that to the every day voter, who aren’t hugely engaged in politics (which I would say is true of my mates in this instance) is they see the headlines in The Gazette and follow Houchens social media etc. (which he keeps completely locked down of any criticism by deleting posts and blocking people) and they buy it.

Likewise, a lot still feel really let down by Labour over the years and that criticism is shared amongst circles and is hard to shift. Some of it justified some of it just because it’s a narrative they’ve heard pushed by friends etc. and they’ve jumped on the bandwagon.

Houchen is a corrupt fat slug in my eyes, but the average every day voter isn’t buying copies of Private eye. They’re blind to some of the other stuff.

They see the airport, they see what’s happening at Tees works and they see those as really positive things.

I do think labelling people as thick or bad people for voting a particular way is counter productive. It just pushes people further back into their views.

That said, my mates voted Houchen for what they see as “delivery” of getting things done - they read the headlines. They don’t necessarily scrutinise the finer detail / reality of what’s actually happening. I don’t see many of them voting Tories at the next election either. It was a vote for Houchen, nothing more.

They’re living in echo chambers - the same as the left (myself included at times). How you break that, I’m not too sure. People seem to become more tribal as time goes on and it’s got to the point where I find it a waste of time debating these things with friends.

Good post

 

[WoodallServices]

Ignore the laughs and the childish replies, you've put a good post together there.

Whether the majority of the bullies on this board like it or not, they are in the minority. They speak with aggressive tones and hound those with a different opinion. But that's usually the case - the silent majority decided to vote for Houchen.

“Bullies”……..grow up!!

Come on then, bearing in mind we’re talking in years now since it started, how many “skilled, high paid” jobs has all Houchen’s mouthing off produced or likely to produce any time soon? Let’s not forget we’re talking about “thousands” here.

 

[Quicksilvera]

Ignore the laughs and the childish replies, you've put a good post together there.

Whether the majority of the bullies on this board like it or not, they are in the minority. They speak with aggressive tones and hound those with a different opinion. But that's usually the case - the silent majority decided to vote for Houchen.

Straight from the Tory playbook, where are these bullies? That’s some accusation.

 

[northernrower]

Straight from the Tory playbook, where are these bullies? That’s some accusation.

I'm not a Tory though

Your reply is exactly what my post was talking about. Thank you for highlighting it.

 

[NYboro]

I'm not a Tory though

Your reply is exactly what my post was talking about. Thank you for highlighting it.

It's out of their playbook though and totally ignores the way OUR taxes are being funneled to Houchen's mates.