Spotlight: From promises to progress

Don’t miss the opportunity

Here we are again. Another summer, another parliamentary recess.

Welcome to silly season, though after recent years, you’d be forgiven for assuming the House of Commons runs on one continuous comedic loop.

From a Government with a crick in its neck from dead-end policy reversals (Sir Keir is not for U-turning, apparently) and the Conservative Party so busy airbrushing 14 years of policy it’s now turned the nozzle on itself, you’re never too far from absurdity.

Speaking of idiocy, be ready to tick off ‘Boris Johnson in painfully naff Hawaiian-style shorts’ on your Westminster wind-down bingo card as recess really kicks in.

That Daily Mail column is doing some very heavy lifting in the political exposure stakes these days.

At least this year, amid the fluff and fill, we’ve got something a little more meaty to chew over by the poolside.

I’m talking about the Government’s ten-year infrastructure strategy.

Now, I will caveat this by saying we’ve been here. before. Countless times.

But the paper does include commitments for the North East, and it does represent a commitment to longer term planning, which – after the last few years of complete chaos – is sweet relief.

So, what are we getting?

Well, the blueprint confirms an integrated funding settlement for the North East Combined Authority from 2026, which should allow for greater cohesion when allocating monies for the transport, skills, housing and overarching regeneration projects needed in the north of the region.

It also talks of a new Strategic Investment Opportunities unit, which is earmarked to work with mayoral-led authorities, Whitehall departments and public organisations to “identify, shape and deliver on projects and programmes with significant scope for private capital and investor interest”.

And it commits to support for the Tees Tidelands Programme, which aims to improve estuary flood defences and restore mudflats and saltmarshes; backs the East Coast Cluster carbon capture venture primed for Teesside; and highlights 47 school rebuilds.

And when allied to the recent industrial strategy, trade strategy and spending review, which included promises of more devolved powers, science and technology funding and headline cash to expand the Tyne and Wear Metro, boost Teesside rail stations and speed up autonomous tram trials, it augurs well.

But, to wind that record again, we’ve been here before; what looks great on paper must be replicated in reality.

Our region’s businesses continue to deliver best-in-class products and services to customers worldwide.

It’s time they – and the North East’s regeneration bodies wrapping around those commercial ventures – are supported and given the means to truly help the region succeed.

For too long, the North East has been a footnote in the Westminster script.

These plans provide an opportunity for it to become a headline act once again.

We cannot afford to miss the opportunity.

Time to deliver

Speaking of silly season, here’s one for you: What do you call a councillor who’s both won and lost? An elected member of the Reform Party!

I’m here all week… (something Clacton’s residents haven’t heard from their Right Honourable Member of Parliament in a good while).

While you’re here, try the fish – it’s the only thing more slippery than Nigel’s manifesto.

I know, I know, the phone is hardly ringing off the hook from the end-of-pier bookings office.

When you have to explain a punchline, you know the gig ain’t coming.

But here’s the set-up, anyway.

Why have Reform’s councillors lost? Well, because by winning seats in the manner they did (and for that we must acknowledge the ineptitude of the main parties at national level), the tables have turned.

No longer is it as easy to dog-whistle from the sidelines or hack away merrily on social media; expectation is now a burden to carry, rather than a desire to demand.

And in the muck and nettles of local authority politics, where services have been pared to the bone over the last decade, performative displays won’t cut it.

The party’s councillors – those who have so far avoided expulsion or resignation – will soon find that out, if they haven’t already.

The answer won’t lie in cringeworthy X posts paying homage to the Union flag, dropping diversity, equity and inclusion titles, carping about climate change or harping about working from home policy.

It’s going to require some good old-fashioned graft, a proper understanding of community needs and a building of rapport with constituents that helps deliver change in the areas that matter across schools, housing, social care, leisure facilities, infinite potholed roads and more.

You can project all you like, but someone still needs to empty the bins.

Reform spent long enough shouting for power.

That time has arrived. It must now deliver.