Conservatives in the North East have called for unity after Rishi Sunak was named the next Prime Minister, but have been accused by Labour of treating the nation’s highest offices as “tombola prizes” as demands for a general election grow.
Mr Sunak won the backing of Tory MPs to succeed Liz Truss on Monday afternoon, with Boris Johnson having abandoned his comeback bid and Penny Mordaunt also dropping out of the race after failing to get enough support. The former Chancellor will become the first British Asian to take the country’s top job and will be the youngest PM for more than 200 years at the age of 42.
After a chaotic few weeks that brought a swift end to Ms Truss’ premiership, Tories in the North East issued a plea for unity. Guy Opperman, Conservative MP for Hexham and backer of Mr Sunak, called him a “serious person for serious times”, while fellow supporter Paul Howell, the MP for Sedgefield, said the new PM “has what it takes to provide the strong leadership we need and steer the country through some very challenging times”.
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Bishop Auckland MP Dehenna Davison, who had backed Liz Truss for Downing Street this summer and became a minister under her short-lived administration, congratulated Mr Sunak too – but warned he has a “mammoth task ahead”. She added: “The country faces huge challenges and people are counting on us to deliver, so we need to get behind Rishi now.”
But with the Conservatives set to move onto their third Prime Minister of the year and the third since the last general election was held in 2019, Labour has called for voters to be given their say now on who should be allowed to form a government.
Following a rapid, four-day leadership contest to replace Ms Truss in which her successor made no policy pledges, Newcastle Central MP Chi Onwurah accused Mr Sunak of being “scared of scrutiny and knows he has no mandate to speak for anyone”. The Labour MP said: “The Tories are treating the highest offices in the land like tombola prizes, even as they use them to crash the economy and make working people, particularly in the North East, pay for the privilege.”
Her Newcastle North counterpart Catherine McKinnell added: “During this five-day leadership campaign, we haven’t heard a word about what our new Prime Minister will do to tackle the cost of living, energy and climate crises, underinvestment in public services, increasing child poverty and broken promises on levelling up and infrastructure investment. Earlier this year this new Prime Minister boasted about diverting funds out of areas like Newcastle to leafy shires.
"Britain is facing our second Prime Minister in a matter of a week without a mandate to govern. Even Conservative MPs are now admitting that this chaos isn’t sustainable. People deserve their say in a General Election to decide the direction they want to see for our country, and to deliver a stable government after years of chaos.”
During the summer Tory leadership contest in which he finished runner-up, Mr Sunak sparked fury when a video emerged of him boasting of stripping cash from “deprived urban areas” and pumping funds into wealthier communities.
Speaking at a hustings event in Darlington in August, the Richmond MP had described his vision for levelling up as wanting everyone in the UK to have “fantastic opportunities and pride in the place they call home”. He has talked up the decision to move Treasury jobs to Darlington under his watch to prove to Whitehall that “there is more to the North than Manchester”.
Andrew Burnett, chairman of the Conservative association in Newcastle, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “Only Conservatives who are united can deliver as we have done before. Conservatives and Rishi Sunak have delivered so much for the North East – investment in the Tees Valley, British Volt, the Treasury moving to Darlington, the Safer Streets Fund in Byker. We have moved on now from what has been quite a rough few weeks for the party. Now it is time to get back together, unite, and take the country forward.”
But Coun Nick Cott, leader of the Liberal Democrats in Newcastle, said the new occupant of 10 Downing Street “has no mandate from the British people” and joined the calls for an election. He added: “Today the economy is in a perilous state and in Newcastle we have residents really suffering. The cost of living crisis and growing poverty are of real concern. We need to see this government seriously committed to levelling up and assisting more in tackling the issues.”
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