BEN HOUCHEN: Levelling up has given power to the locals... it's a Conservative success story!

What people in Teesside, Darlington, and Hartlepool want is exactly the same as what people want in any other part of the country.

They want good jobs to support their families. They want opportunities to realise their potential. They want politicians to get the basics right and deliver tangible progress.

They don't want to move to Newcastle, Leeds, or London to do this. And there is no reason why they should.

For years, the North East was taken for granted and left to rot by the Labour Party. People were consigned to having to move out to move on.

This Government's Levelling Up agenda has changed that – now people I represent can stay local and go far.

Ben Houchen said Sir Keir Starmer 'hasn't learned the lesson' of the past when 'for years, the North East was taken for granted and left to rot by the Labour Party'

This committed approach to devolution, introduced by Boris and continued by Rishi, has been instrumental in turbo-charging local growth, because local businesses and local politicians know how to spend their money for the benefit of their local areas

Thanks to the money and powers that have come with this Levelling Up agenda, billions of pounds of private sector investment has now been leveraged into Teesside, Darlington and Hartlepool. It has helped us back the innovators, job creators and entrepreneurs.

It has seen us increase the employment rate by 5.4 per cent. It has allowed us to save our airport which was being run into the ground and prepared for sale under Labour. And it has given us the firepower to regenerate the rusting Redcar steelworks, creating thousands of new, good-quality, local jobs in the industries of the future for the next generation of Teessiders.

Thanks to the money and powers that have come with this Levelling Up agenda, billions of pounds of private sector investment has now been leveraged into Teesside, Darlington and Hartlepool

It has seen us increase the employment rate by 5.4 per cent. It has allowed us to save our airport which was being run into the ground and prepared for sale under Labour

But Levelling Up isn't just about the cash, though this has been a critical part of this Government's commitment to our area.

It is also about the influence we now have over government policy which, for years, Westminster has had a monopoly.

Ben Houchen wrote in the Mail today that he believes 'Labour hasn't learnt its lesson'

We have brought hundreds of civil servants from the Treasury to Darlington so decisions about how our country is run can be made from the North East for the first time.

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Leading Tory mayor says Starmer hasn't learned past lessons when the North 'was taken for granted' as he pleads 'do not let Labour leave the region to rot'

This is how we truly level up our country and make people's voices heard. What we have seen over the past seven years is not the patronising handouts we saw on rare occasions under Labour. This committed approach to devolution, introduced by Boris and continued by Rishi, has been instrumental in turbo-charging local growth, because local businesses and local politicians know how to spend their money for the benefit of their local areas.

But Labour hasn't learnt its lesson. They still operate on a centralised model where everything is to be dictated from their head office. Just look at the campaign they ran against me in May – it barely mentioned a local issue! Under Labour's proposals, local people and their concerns would be ignored, and people in areas like Teesside, Darlington and Hartlepool would lose control over planning, development, and Government spending.

The Conservatives' model of development only works because we are fully committed to devolution with money and political power working hand in glove. We Mayors have been empowered to spend how we know best.

This means, in Teesside, we have been able to attract the right jobs and businesses, as well as billions more in private investment.

It has been the way forward for Teesside, Darlington and Hartlepool. It has delivered us electoral success because it has allowed me to deliver real progress to the people I am so lucky to represent.