Cornwall Council elections: where the different parties stand
Conservative cabinet member Martin Alvey defended his party's record - including the introduction of 20mph zones.He said they wanted to build four thousand council houses a year during the next administration. Discussing how to boost town centres, he said they would freeze car park charges for four years and improve footfall by converting empty space above shops into housing.
Green candidate Drew Creek claimed expensive parking was impacting town centres and they supported reducing fees during the off-season for local residents.He admitted they would like government permission to raise additional income through the introduction of a 'tourist tax' to copy what has been done elsewhere in the country. He also said affordable housing should be built first in any new developments.
Mebyon Kernow leader Dick Cole said the party would push for extra powers to be devolved from Westminster so more decisions on providing affordable housing could be made in Cornwall.He insisted town centres had received some financial support - and wanted to see villages and rural communities also catered for. He said cuts in government funding over recent years meant a 'tourist tax' could be a valuable source of extra income.
Liberal Democrat group leader Leigh Frost vowed to get "back to basics" and deliver key services properly instead of being distracted by issues like the future of Newquay Airport.He said town centres needed support to evolve as places for socialising and some discounted parking for residents might help.He wanted the council's arms-length developer Treveth to build more affordable housing and to incentivise developers and landlords to provide more homes for private rent.
Labour candidate Laurie Magowan said they would encourage more community-led housing schemes and focus on bringing empty homes into use and making them more energy-efficient.He wanted to work with local traders to put on more events like markets and live music to encourage more footfall in towns - but would not commit to lowering tariffs in car parks.He cautioned against a 'tourist tax' being too punitive and harming visitor numbers at quieter times of the year.
Rowland O'Connor, from Reform UK, said the party would freeze council tax bills and look at how the authority spends its money. He wanted powers from the government to offer tax incentives to encourage developers to renovate old buildings to provide more housing and protect greenfield sites. He said lowering parking charges would help ailing town centres - but the party did not support increasing the cost of holidays to Cornwall with a 'tourist tax'.
Independent group deputy leader Adam Paynter promised they would build 10,000 extra social homes over the course of the next administration.He said they would re-introduce more frequent clearing of drains and gullies to keep water off roads and reduce potholes forming.The group also supported the idea of a residents parking card where local people could use car parks for a discounted price.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Spectator
an hour ago
- Spectator
Revealed: Morgan McSweeney's memo to the PM on how Labour could fail
In this week's cover story, I revealed details of a memo written by Morgan McSweeney, the prime minister's chief of staff, written in May last year, before the general election, which predicted exactly how Labour would struggle in power, because of its historical tendency to want to 'change the world', rather than focusing on re-election in the way Conservative governments do. Central to this uncanny act of clairvoyance was the insight that even a large majority (at the time the memo was written, possible but not certain) would not insulate Starmer from the tendency of Labour MPs to drift into activism and campaigning against their own government, something we saw in spades this week. Today, I can bring you the whole memo. It is notable for a number of reasons: McSweeney's shrewd analysis. There is a reason why he is regarded as an adroit strategist and that is why Starmer backed him last week against calls for 'regime change' in No. 10. The title of the memo was 'May 4th 2028' and it outlines a strategy to win a second general election after four years (rather than the full five-year term). I have had hints since that Starmer's team is already shifting its horizons to 2029 rather than 2028 but it is worth keeping this in mind when the Treasury outlines cuts or tax rises for the back end of this parliament – they may not have come into force before an election. At a time when it was not certain that Labour would win big, Starmer's chief strategist was openly speculating about far closer cooperation with the Liberal Democrats and inviting Sir Ed Davey in to collaborate. Again, if we are heading for a hung parliament in 2029, this is worth keeping at the back of our minds. McSweeney was quick to see that the next big battle for Labour would be against the 'populist right' in the form of Reform, and correct in identifying that Reform would begin to eclipse the Tories, as they have done since the new year. The memo outlines four ways in which the left loses to the populists – by being soft on net zero, immigration, by failing to deliver change voters can 'feel' and by becoming identified with a failed establishment. All four of these seem like pretty live issues/problems for Labour vis-à-vis Reform The memo outlines a blueprint for tackling Reform: levelling with the public, going on the attack, telling a coherent story with heroes and villains, and do not duck the key issues. This is precisely where many Labour people think Starmer is currently failing. Two caveats. My Downing Street sources say some of McSweeney's thinking has changed since he wrote the memo, so it shouldn't be assumed that Starmer is going to follow it to the letter now, but I know it was discussed in No. 10 last week as the PM tried to get things back on track. Secondly, while McSweeney wrote the first section himself, the material on elections around the world was commissioned by him but written by someone else, though he endorsed the conclusions. Nonetheless it represents a rare and valuable insight into the thinking of Team Starmer. Here is the full memo: From: Morgan McSweeney To: Keir Starmer May 4th 2028 – The Change Goes On Changing the world and retaining power The only task Labour finds harder than taking power from the Conservatives is keeping it. Few Labour Prime Ministers have ever secured two, full successive terms. Big Labour victories – 1945 and 1966 – have proved short lived. Today, swing voters are more volatile, less attached to any party and more willing to rapidly switch allegiance than ever before. If Labour wins after a heavy defeat in 2019, it will underscore that a big majority is no guarantee of victory at the subsequent election. When the Tories win power they always do so with the aim of retaining it. The decisions they take are always oriented towards winning the next election. When Labour wins we seek to change the world, to improve peoples' lives as fast as we can, but we ignore that really changing lives and setting the country on a new course takes more than one win. To successfully achieve our mission we must have a dual mindset of changing lives and retaining power. A big majority on July 4th will put even more pressure on the government to focus on the short term, to help people as much as possible as fast as possible, to lose discipline and definition. In 2028 the populist right will try to run a 1979 Tory campaign. Presenting us as continuity with the failures of the political establishment since the economic crash in the way that Thatcher presented Callaghan as the continuity with the Tory leadership of the 1970s and that same politics could fuel a strong return from the SNP. 5 tasks to win again. 1. Define the Mandate Change Britain for the better and every part of it better off. Our mandate is to make Britain better and every part of it better off. We should emphasise that our first steps are exactly that – they are the starting point not the summit of our ambitions. There is much work to be done to precisely understand what people believe they have elected a Labour government to do. Polling suggests that sorting out the NHS is the public's top priority, closing followed by stopping the boats and improving living standards. Median living standards have been stagnating since 2005—before the economic crash. GDP growth is necessary—too many people don't have a sufficient share of it—but people need to feel that they are better off. We need to get productivity and therefore wages to rise. That is easier said than done, but GDP does seem to be growing again and inflation is coming back to normal. There is also a tension with interest rates—the quickest way for people to feel better off will be for rates to fall…but a rise in GDP could mean that they stay higher for longer. We will need to manage expectations. PO [Paul Ovenden, the head of strategy] will oversee a bigger more extensive analysis post-election but we need a working definition now. 2. Tories / Reform Never again Our next fight will be with a more muscular populist right: it is more likely that the rump of the Tory party merges into Reform that vice-versa. But no matter how the populist right coalesces, our job will be to paint them as a continuity chaos or a return to it. A coalition of chaos that cannot be let loose of the public again. We should hammer them with the records of the extremists in their ranks. And they must be painted as a continuation of the politics that has left Britain on its knees. Populist Right politics leads to chaos, leads to short term thinking, chasing headlines, looking for attention. Chaos will always cost you more. Populist right politics will always present simple solutions – cut taxes fast, fly people off to Rwanda etc. The story must be told through its consequences on the country. We must define the problems in the country in a way that disqualifies the Populists from winning again. The problems the country has – low growth, high taxes, falling living standards, rising bills, high waiting lists, crumbling public services and open boards- Beware the politician with simple ideas. In this election campaign, our central message has been that Keir has been able to change the party so he will be able to change the country. It is encapsulated by the single-word campaign message 'Change'. But this story has stuck in people's minds precisely because we were able to define a villain: Jeremy Corbyn and the left that corrupted the party by putting it in the service of its members and supporters, not of working people. Keir has been the one to confront that culture within the party, to take them on and win. We must approach every action in government with clarity about who is the villain: who is responsible for getting us into this situation? And how are we taking them on to turn things around. The answer to this, at first, is easy: the Tories are the villains. Our audits will lay bare the damage that they have done to our economy, society and public services. We should not lose sight of the outrageous behaviour that characterised their time in office. This is no time for magnanimity. This is the time for accountability. And we should make sure that we hold them individually as well as collectively accountable for their actions. Every Minister, MP or Adviser who referred their friends or associates into the 'VIP Lane' for Covid contracts should face investigation, but it cannot just be about the 'what' it must also be about they 'why'. 3. Keir Starmer – Your force for change A government with a colossal majority is no more able to govern than one with an ordinary working majority, and may, in fact, face more challenges not less. On our own side, there will be pressure to adopt causes that are popular with our own supporters and to lose focus on the electorate. There will be hundreds of MPs with rather a lot of time on their hands who may start to behave like super activists or campaigners, rather than parliamentarians. And our internal critics will surely make the argument 'you had the power to do anything—and this is all you achieved…' as if the size of the majority somehow directly correlates to solving complex and long-term policy problems. It will, therefore, be important to maintain discipline within our own ranks. Keir should be positioned as unlike ordinary politicians—rather than the typical politician who makes all sorts of promises and then breaks them, Keir should do the opposite. He should consistently under promise and over deliver. This can become powerful because it means that when Keir speaks people will be more inclined to listen. At the same time, Keir should be positioned as the force for change in the country. A cast-iron approach to 'what gets said gets done' should be combined with storytelling around Keir's priority to put the Party, and therefore the British state, in the service of working people. Keir must be associated with big inward investment deals, projects getting shovels in the ground on projects. KS is the dealmaker, the builder and the challenger. We should use the full power of the government machine to do this. This will also mean putting people who are aligned with our mission into the key institutions of the state. The Tories have spent 14 years rewarding their donor and friends with jobs in public institutions; we should not do the same. But we should clear out the beneficiaries of nepotism and appoint capable people who share our ambitions for the country. We will need a steady drum beat of announcements from central government that reinforce this narrative and occupy political space. Finally, a key message should be that Keir is making Britain 'respected abroad' again. We should think about what international visits would cement this reputation—in Europe, the United States, and beyond. 4. Energising the party and keeping it mobilised We need to mobilise the party to the same cause as the government: to be in the service of working people. We could begin by asking all backbenchers to spend the summer in a major listening exercise where they go out and meet people in their communities and in public services and listen to the difficulties that they face. We could create a programme that would enable them to feedback these stories to Keir and to the Cabinet. It would create activities for our MPs and it would offer a means to cement in the public's mind just how bad things have become and lead both their constituents and local parties on our agenda for economic reform. As well as listening, we need to make sure that we deliver on the causes that are most precious to our members and supporters as well as to the country. The three issues that are most salient for our base are child poverty, climate breakdown, and services and benefits for society's most vulnerable. We should make sure that vulnerable groups are systematically examined in the audits of public services. We could follow up on the audits by asking a leading figure to look at reforms to help society's most vulnerable. Child poverty must come down under a Labour Government and we need a visible strategy to cut it. 5. Brining the country together Large parts of the country will feel disenfranchised by this election. It's possible that Reform gets twice as many votes as the Lib Dems but that the latter have 10 times as many seats. We know that younger voters and many Muslim voters will have supported candidates and parties that will have no representation in parliament whatsoever. This provides fertile ground for populists of left and right to try to delegitimise a Labour government from day one. We need a clear strategy to engage with alienated voters. There are some obvious things that we can do – such as visibly governing in closer partnership with Scotland and Wales and making sure that the Government is a visible presence in their politics. A more radical approach would be to welcome Ed Davey to Downing Street in the early days of a new administration. If we have a large majority, there will certainly be pushback from within the party. But the benefits could be considerable: it will show our intentions to work with others and a different tone and style of politics. [The following section was commissioned by McSweeney but not written by him] Lessons from around the world Four ways centre-left governments make themselves vulnerable to the populist right 1. They underweight the costs of net zero, so populists become defenders of working people. The transition to net zero is this century's greatest economic transformation. Countries that seize this opportunity will secure significant economic benefits which will, in the long run, significantly outweigh costs. But there are big costs, especially in the short term. Many changes to decarbonise homes (heat pumps, retrofits, electric vehicles) are currently unaffordable and disruptive for households to adopt. In Germany, Olaf Scholz's government nearly fell apart as voters reacted angrily to the idea of having to ditch boilers as part of a ban on new oil and gas heating systems from 2024. The far-right AfD complained of an 'eco-dictatorship', and the popularity of Scholz's government tanked. It has not recovered and the policy has been watered down. Without an approach led by political strategy, the populist right can position itself as being on the side of working people, against a government captured by the moral imperative to decarbonise. A small group of voters, who live largely in safe Labour seats, feel climate change is a key issue, and an equally small group, on the right of the Tory coalition, are fully-fledged deniers. Most, and particularly swing voters, take a nuanced view. They think climate change is real, but working people should not be forced to pay to solve the problem, and that the government should focus on issues that more immediately affect them.1 We must constantly focus policy and argument on 'energy security' (reducing dependence on hostile foreign nations), the cost of living (jobs and reducing bills), and the local environment (nature, water, green spaces). 2. They look reluctant to act on migration, ceding 'control over borders' to populists. Biden pledged to reverse most Trump-era policies on immigration. On his first day in office, he paused nearly all deportations, and vowed to show compassion to those entering the United States while securing the southern border. He wanted to demonstrate that the US was humane and that government could work. Instead, he has found himself on the defensive. Many voters say immigration is their top concern and most do not have confidence in Biden to address it. Biden's approach has failed even on its own terms: the humanitarian crisis on the border and in major US cities is worse than ever, as Democrat Mayors have highlighted. With an eye to the next election, Biden has adopted a tougher posture, calling for stricter enforcement at the border. But it looks inauthentic, and as a result, is not working. Voters sense, correctly, that Biden's first instinct was to adopt a compassionate approach to migrants, not to secure America's borders. His conversion to tougher action looks cynical – something he has been forced to do because of public pressure, not because he really believes it. We must be tough from the start. The first things we do on migration must be about getting control over our borders, smashing the gangs, and tackling small boats. We must earn the trust to address more fundamental challenges: Home Office reform, or more boldly, reframing legal migration as a matter of industrial strategy by moving legal migration out of the Home Office and into the Department for Business and Trade (DBT). What we say and do must constantly underscore the argument that the Tories lost control of our borders, and we are taking it back. 3. They become defenders of the system, allowing populists to be seen as agents of change – in style as well as substance. In Germany, Scholz deliberately styled himself as the incumbent. He wanted to be a symbol of continuity with Angela Merkel (in whose coalition he served). He was even photographed making Merkel's hallmark diamond-shaped hand gesture. But, however popular Merkel was when she was in office, voters didn't want continuity, they wanted change. In practice, this narrowed the political space for Scholz to argue that the system is broken, ceding this territory to the AfD. This is also about the stylistic element of politics. Some on the centre-left have responded to the headline-grabbing shock-and-awe of populists by rising above the fray and refusing to engage. This was how Joe Biden began his presidency, instructing the Justice Department to be slow in prosecuting Donald Trump for the insurrection, and ignoring the populist right. This proved impossible and ineffective. When Biden came out fighting, such this year's State of the Union, it bolstered support. We must be insurgents from the outset. In terms of substance, voters understand perfectly well that the British state is broken and in need of radical reform: Whitehall, delivery, public services, the responsibilities and powers of devolved governments, combined authorities, and local government. We need to be impatient, ceaseless reformers. Careful and precise in what fights we chose and why, but as soon as we look like we are defending the status quo of our politics and government, when voters know it does not work, we risk ceding the ground to the populist right. We cannot vacate the terrain of showing voters we are listening to and fighting for them. We need streetfighters who communicate clearly, understand delivery, and can be deployed as outriders. This requires an energetic, pugnacious and courageous communication style, a willingness to take risks and have the argument, not shirk it. It also requires effective engagement with new, fragmented media beyond mainstream outlets and savvy use of social media. 4. They deliver change that working people cannot see or feel. For governments to rebuild trust with working people, they must address visible problems and focus policy on their experience. In the United States, the Infrastructure Act, CHIPS Act, and Inflation Reduction Act represent the most significant legislative achievement of a US President in decades. But they aim at structural transformation, whose long-term benefits are relatively intangible in the short term. Labour has made a clear argument about the need to focus on the long-term and end sticking plaster politics. This is right and vital in managing the public's expectations. However, voters must also experience improvements in their material and physical environments. They want tangible things that make a difference: better pay and lower bills, safer streets and cleaner parks, better roads with fewer potholes, a doctor or dentist they can see when they need one. Politics starts with the local, on people's streets and local areas, so we must focus on the things that people see and feel in their own lives. The closer we get to the next election, the more important those will become. That requires a constant balancing between governing for the long-term, to demonstrate we will not duck hard decisions like the Tories, without neglecting the political imperative for short-term wins. Four ways centre-left governments beat the populist right 1. Level with the public with an honesty that takes people off guard. Working people understand that in politics, as in life, there are few quick or easy wins. They do not expect to be mollycoddled. They want to be treated with honesty and respect. There is much greater appetite for hearing hard-truths than politicians often suppose. Hard truth's should be at the core of Labour's message. The country is in a terrible mess. Labour must keep making a virtue of the fact it will not lie to voters or make promises it can't keep, and that it will be slow and painful to drag ourselves out of this mess. But Labour has a plan, and things will slowly get better. When we're inevitably attacked because things aren't improving fast enough, we must call out gimmicks and point out that gimmicks got us into this mess in the first place. 2. Tell our own story of us-versus-them. Most voters think all politicians are the same: 'them' not 'us'. Centre-left governments need their own version of this story: the 'us' is the working people of Britain and their Labour government prepared to tell hard truths and do hard yards to tackle big problems. The 'them' are dishonest Tory con merchants and clowns who got the country into this mess – with lies and broken promises – and even profited from it. They are the villains of this story and working people are the heroes. We must constantly demonstrate that a Labour government serves working people. This will be difficult. Politicians must tell stories and deliver arguments that focus on experience. We cannot settle for abstract, structural logic against the populist right's more concrete, linear reasoning. For instance, on immigration, instead of explaining the complexity of the problem or reducing it to economics, we must own the language of control, jobs, and houses. 3. Always be on the offensive. Attacking your opponents matters as much in government as in an election campaign or opposition. Done well, it enables you to define – and toxify – your opponents before they define themselves. After the election, the Conservatives will find themselves in a painful and prolonged debate, in which its relationship with Farage, probably as an MP, will become existential. While they are distracted, Labour quickly cement their culpability for Britain's ills in voters' minds. This is what the Conservatives did in the summer of 2010. While Labour was debating its future, the Conservatives ruthlessly and relentlessly pinned the blame for the financial crisis on Labour. The starting point must be to endorse the depth of the disillusionment, even rage, many feel. Voters aren't wrong to believe that politics has stopped serving working people. It has. Worse, it has started to serve itself. In the most egregious cases, politicians have used their office to enrich themselves and their friends. Voters have been let down by their leaders. The system has been rigged against working people. The people who did that are the Conservatives. In government, we must continue to be streetfighters in communication and campaigning, putting our opponents on the defensive. 4. Visibly occupy the issues that populists want to exploit. Populists draw strength from promoting ideas that have been insufficiently addressed by the current government. Attacking populists for talking about these issues or seeking to move the debate onto other matters plays into their hands. Voters see it as avoiding or downplaying their concerns. So Labour must visibly and proactively own the debate on issues the populist right seeks to exploit. Not as issues to be managed for narrow political reasons, but as core parts of Labour's own governing agenda. Tackling migration is not a defensive play Labour tactically deploys when under pressure, but a continual and core element of its programme, which Labour is proud to advance because it wants to make life better for working people. This means keeping Labour's governing programme disciplined and focused on voters' priorities. It also means always running a forward-looking agenda, offering an optimistic – but realistic – vision of a better future for working people.
Wales Online
an hour ago
- Wales Online
'It's time we spoke about Swansea with the pride it deserves'
Our community members are treated to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. You can check out at any time. More info It's a year ago today that I had the honour of being elected Member of Parliament for Swansea West. As a newbie to politics, it was a big change. Twelve months on I wanted to share a few reflections on what being an MP has taught me so far. Before standing for office, I spent a decade as an economist campaigning to raise the living standards of low-to-middle-income households – to reduce poverty and raise wages. My job was examining spreadsheets, not making speeches. But those spreadsheets made for increasingly uncomfortable – in fact horrifying – reading. They charted rising costs and wages that failed to keep pace, rising homelessness and deepening poverty. The value of wages in Swansea weren't a penny higher on the eve of the 2024 general election than when the Conservatives took office back in 2010. That's why, when the election was called, I knew it was time to stop charting the problems and start trying to change them. That brings me to the first big lesson I've learned since being elected: we mustn't give up on the idea that progress can be made – because it can and it is being made. Yes the country has big problems, and it will take time to fix them after fourteen years of Conservative austerity. But concrete improvements have happened faster than many thought possible. Exploitative zero-hour contracts are being banned, wages for the lowest earners have been raised, and austerity has been ended. Making tough but fair choices on tax last Autumn is why we can invest £50 billion more a year into public services. There's a long way to go, but wages rose more under the first 10 months of Labour than in 10 years under the Tories. That's progress – and we've got to keep going. The second lesson: the power of co-operation. In Wales we know that politics is a team sport because under devolution, when co-operation breaks down, it's the public who pay the price. The Welsh Government did a heroic job of trying to cooperate with the previous UK administration, but were too often met with a brick wall. Now, with Labour in Westminster and Cardiff for the first time in more than a decade, we are starting to see what genuine partnership can achieve. We have set record budgets for the Welsh Government, and that is exactly why NHS waiting times are at last falling. There's a long road ahead, but we are moving in the right direction and we will fight tooth and nail against Reform's plans to privatise the NHS. Third: most people assume an MP's job is standing up in Parliament, but most of the work happens in Swansea. Over the past year, I've met more than 100 businesses, community groups and charities in Swansea, knocked on almost 3,000 doors with the local Labour Party, and answered more than 7,000 letters about policy issues – not least on assisted dying. As their MP, over 1,000 people have turned to me for help with problems over the past year and I'm glad we often have been able to help. Housing is the most common culprit in Swansea. The final thing I've learned is this: we need to stop talking Swansea down. Too often, we undersell our potential. But our ugly lovely town has a thriving cultural scene, world-class university, rich industrial and political history, and the potential to host cutting-edge renewable energy technology in the Celtic Sea. It's time we spoke about Swansea with the pride it deserves and see it matched with vision, investment and jobs. Trying to change the charts, not just draw them, is hard. Spreadsheets don't shout at you like people do! And that's exactly as it should be. Democracy means listening, learning, and being held to account. Every letter, every doorstep conversation, every community meeting is shaping my work as an MP. I'm proud of what we've started – but I know there's much more to do. So thank you, Swansea West, for putting your trust in me over this past year and the next four. I'll never take it for granted.
ITV News
an hour ago
- ITV News
How Kier Starmer's government is scoring with the public one year since the North East turned red
It was just a year after his landslide election victory, but following a high-profile humiliation, Sir Keir Starmer seriously considered quitting. I'm actually talking about how he won the Labour leadership in April 2020, and has admitted he thought about stepping down after defeat at the Hartlepool by-election the following May - rather than any indication that he's considering his future as Prime Minister, following the mess made of welfare reforms this week. It is a reminder that he's succeeded in turning things around before. Then, surely more than anything, he benefited from Conservative implosion. But the late spring of 2021 is also seen as a turning point, when he moved away from a message of unity following Jeremy Corbyn's leadership, and took on the left of his party, moving it to the centre ground - from where he won a thumping majority of MPs at last summer's general election. However, any impression that he had the backing of a 400-strong army of loyal 'Starmtroopers' has now been well and truly shattered, with a rebellion against the government's plans for the benefits system leading to the low point of his premiership so far. Labour MPs from the North East and North Yorkshire were at the heart of some extraordinary scenes in the Commons on Tuesday 1 July. York Central's Rachael Maskell, author of the final amendment trying to block the bill, claimed it would lead to "Dickensian cuts" to support for some of the most vulnerable people in society. Shortly before the vote, Disability Minister Stephen Timms then announced a final huge concession - changes to eligibility for Personal Independence Payment would not take effect until after the conclusions of a review he's leading. Blyth and Ashington MP Ian Lavery angrily declared, "This is crazy, man. This is outrageous, man," about the handling of the situation. City of Durham MP Mary Kelly Foy said: "I popped out for a banana earlier on, and when I came back in, things had changed again, so I'm even more unclear on what I'm voting on." That prompted laughter from colleagues in the Commons, but there's been little reason for ministers to be amused, even if Rachel Reeves' tears at PMQs the following day were due to a "personal issue." Despite the capitulation on the contents of the welfare bill, eight Labour MPs from our region still voted against it. Most of them are firmly left-wing, part of a relatively small caucus that remains within Labour's parliamentary ranks. And, with some timing, we've now seen the announcement of plans to form a new left-wing party, involving Mr Corbyn. It's not wise, though, to get too carried away at this stage - who remembers Change UK? The biggest threat to Labour surely remains Reform UK, as evidenced in May's local elections in our region, and with opinion polls suggesting they would make huge gains across the North East and North Yorkshire if a general election was held now. Chris Eynon, who came second in Sunderland Central last year, told us: "the Red Wall is very, very prime for the taking for the Reform party." They won their first seat on North Tyneside Council this week, though also lost one to the Liberal Democrats in County Durham. That came after one of Reform's councillors resigned within days of being elected, because he also worked for the council and you're not allowed to do both. It's the kind of mishap that opponents will hope to see repeated in the coming months and years, as Reform are really tested for the first time, running Durham County Council and nine others around the country. Of course the final years of Conservative rule at Westminster became defined by a certain level of Berwick MP Anne-Marie Trevelyan was moved between six different cabinet or ministerial roles within five years. She told me this week that the Tories need to gradually rebuild confidence, trying to re-assert themselves as "the sensible party". Of course Labour pledged to bring stability, when they all but swept the board in the North East on their way into government last summer. Bridget Phillipson was the country's first confirmed MP that night, thanks to the speedy Sunderland counting system. She became one of the Prime Minister's key lieutenants as Education Secretary, and we spoke to her today (4 July) after she made a speech to teachers in the North East about making sure children are ready to start school. On the election anniversary, she told us, "We haven't got everything right and I think we'd be the first to acknowledge that, but I'm really proud of the achievements of the last year," pointing to investment in schools, free breakfast clubs, and childcare places within her remit. On room for improvement, she seemed to agree with analysis that ministers haven't been good enough at setting out a real narrative and vision, saying the government should be "clearer in communicating what we're doing". That surely applies to any focus on supporting regions like the North East to tackle regional inequalities - what the Conservatives used to call "levelling up". More quietly, Labour have looked to work closely with regional mayors, and tweaked borrowing and value-for-money rules to allow longer-term investment. We've seen the announcement of the Tyne and Wear Metro being extended to Washington, but also the cancellation of plans to upgrade the A1 in Northumberland. The recent spending review promised investment in 350 deprived areas around the UK, which it's expected will mean funding for things like youth clubs, libraries and community-run grocers, in an effort to bring visible change. That does feel similar to the last government's various funding pots for local regeneration schemes. More widely, Labour ministers argue they have set their own direction by making "tough decisions." It's too early for much data to show whether they've set the country on the right course. But, for example, the future of the two-child benefit cap was a controversial topic when I interviewed Bridget Phillipson a week into her new government role last July, and it's an issue that remains to be resolved now. Another fight with Labour MPs looks likely - particularly with expected welfare savings now lost, the Chancellor having pledged not to raise taxes on "working people", and little sign of roaring economic growth materialising. The next year doesn't look much easier.
