Hopes of a new North East mayor being elected in the next few years were raised last week, with talks expected over striking a massive new deal for the region.
Long-awaited Levelling Up papers that were finally published by the Government include a commitment to press ahead with negotiations to expand the North East’s devolution arrangements, potentially bringing significantly more power and money to the area.
But what exactly would a new mayor do and who could it be? It is still early days and there are a lot of details to be ironed out, but here is everything you need to know right now…
Go here for the latest regional affairs and North East politics news
Who would the mayor represent?
It is expected that an expanded devolution settlement for the North East would cover Newcastle, North Tyneside, Northumberland, South Tyneside, Sunderland, and Gateshead – with a new combined authority created to cover those six areas, headed by an elected metro mayor.
Newcastle, North Tyneside, and Northumberland already have the North of Tyne Combined Authority, where Jamie Driscoll is mayor, but the south of Tyne councils are not part of any devolution deal currently.
County Durham could have been part of the proposed deal, but will instead be one of the first places in England to get a county devolution deal – choosing to go it alone instead of being part of a larger combined authority, after the county’s political leadership changed hands last year.
What is a metro mayor?
A metro mayor is a directly elected leader of a region spanning a number of local council areas. They chair a mayoral combined authority, which also includes the leaders of all the councils in that area.
The idea has been pushed by Conservative-led governments since 2010, devolving a series of powers and funding to the nine areas that currently have mayoral combined authority deals – the North of Tyne, Tees Valley, Greater Manchester, Liverpool City Region, South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, West Midlands, West of England, and Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.
Somewhat confusingly, there is already a North East Combined Authority too – made up of Gateshead, South Tyneside, Sunderland, and County Durham. But it has no mayor and no devolution deal.
What powers would the North East mayor have?
In short, we don’t know yet – and this question is absolutely crucial to deciding if and when this new devolution deal is signed off.
While political leaders from the North East have been talking to the government about this idea for a while, there have been no formal negotiations about the content of a deal – and local officials have stressed that it will have to be right in order to get the backing of all the councils that would be involved, something which has proved problematic in the past.
The big ticket item is going to be transport. It has long been known that decision-makers here want more powers over our bus and rail networks, plus the extra investment needed to upgrade them – most notably by reopening the mothballed Leamside Line, paving the way for the Tyne and Wear Metro to be extended to Washington.
Powers over issues like housing, skills, and education are also likely to be on the wishlist, while Mr Driscoll has suggested that the deal could be worth more than £1bn.
And, intriguingly, there is a chance that the combined authority could even be merged with the office of the Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) – both would cover the same geography and there is precedent for this in Greater Manchester and West Yorkshire.
When is an election going to be held?
Again, we don’t know for sure. It all depends on how long the negotiations about the content of the deal take, how soon the six local councils could sign it off, and then how quickly the necessary legislation could be passed through Parliament.
May 2024 is being talked about as a realistic date to aim for an election to be held, but that is far from certain.
Haven’t we been here before?
Yes, a similar deal that would have also included County Durham was on the verge of being done in 2016 – there had even been a signing ceremony with the then-Chancellor George Osborne.
But it collapsed at the eleventh hour, with Gateshead the first area to say no before then being joined in pulling out by the other three councils south of the Tyne. That led to Newcastle, North Tyneside, and Northumberland breaking away to secure their own North of Tyne devolution deal.
Martin Gannon, Gateshead’s Council leader, said at the time that the deal on the table in 2016 “does not represent genuine devolution, poses a threat to democracy and proposes governance that lacks accountability”.
You might also remember that a referendum was held back in 2004 about the idea of a North East regional assembly being created, a proposal pushed by former deputy prime minister John Prescott. Voters were overwhelmingly against the plan at the time, with 78% opposing it.
So, why is this happening now?
Ultimately, because the government has made clear that reuniting the North East councils under an elected mayor is the only way the region will get the powers and money it wants.
Hundreds of millions of pounds worth of funding for transport has been promised, but the government has said it will only hand out that money if a new devolution deal is done.
The prospect of missing out on that, plus the other investment that would potentially be on offer, is seemingly what has brought more sceptical council leaders back into the discussions.
Who could be in the running for the job?
It might be a tad early to be speculating about the runners and riders for mayor, when there are still so many unknowns.
But one person who has already thrown his hat in the ring is Jamie Driscoll – he has confirmed that he would seek Labour’s candidacy for a North East mayor position, having served as North of Tyne mayor since 2019.
Labour PCC Kim McGuinness’ name has also cropped up in the early rumours around potential candidates, having twice won election on the same Northumbria patch that the mayoral role would cover – and performing strongly when Labour endured a tough election night last May.
She has refused to be drawn on the subject, but you would certainly expect her to be in the conversation if the new combined authority were to take on her policing powers.
Some of the region’s Labour or Conservative MPs might also fancy a run at the job. The likes of Andy Burnham and Tracy Brabin stepped down from Parliament to become metro mayors in their regions, while Dan Jarvis has combined the two jobs in South Yorkshire.
Local council leaders would seem like an obvious choice too; Newcastle’s Nick Forbes had wanted the North of Tyne job, but lost out in Labour’s selection race to Mr Driscoll.
Prominent business leaders would also be worth watching. Businessman Charlie Hoult was the Tories’ North of Tyne candidate in 2019 and John McCabe, now chief executive of the North East Chamber of Commerce, stood as an independent.
