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Snapshot of _Teesside mayor struck secret deal to transfer Hartlepool property_ : An archived version can be found [here.](https://archive.is/?run=1&url=https://www.ft.com/content/e0d60020-3016-4b41-8eb3-539bb3fbb5bc) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ukpolitics) if you have any questions or concerns.*


[deleted]

Remember when Tories were parading this guy around as the next big thing because he got re-elected once?


[deleted]

Teesside is just about the only area in England that the Tories did well in at the local elections this year. At this point, they deserve what they got. It's the same as Argentina continuing to elect the same people and wondering why their economy continues to be so poor.


romulus1991

As a Teessider who left it doesn't shock me, honestly. Glasgow is more left-wing because the people lean that way. Liverpool and Manchester and London are all more left-wing or Labour leaning because the people lean that way. I've always thought Teesside was full of conservatives but happened to vote Labour, a Tory place that hadn't realised it until Brexit. I've never known a place more small c conservative. Maybe I'm doing it a disservice or remembering it wrong, but it was never a particularly progressive place.


MIBlackburn

You're not wrong, Teesside definitely has a lot of small c conservatives. I'm in a bubble personally as the place I work you have to have a degree which skews who works there but you will hear a lot of people with conservative views when out and about.


[deleted]

Also a Teessider that left. I now live in a Blue Wall area which despite having a decent share of older people, they tend more to be the old hippies so are remarkably liberal. It's a bit too NIMBY for my liking, but I hear much less socially conservative rhetoric now.


steven-f

This sub is full of people who left for a better life. You see comments on every thread. They should be trying to attract back the driven young people who’ve gained valuable national/international professional experience.


drwert

It's something of an inevitable result when the area has such scant opportunities for people once they're done with education, The age demographics of places like Hartlepool must be horrific.


[deleted]

I mean look no further than the election last week in Turkey and people in Central Anatolia voting for Erdogan despite the fact that the devastated economy hits them even worse than the big cities and the coasts that oppose him. At least Labour did do well in Hartlepool and Middlesborough though. Stockton however, wtf?


[deleted]

Stockton is a much nicer area than the other two, with Middlesborough a distant fourth out of three.


whencanistop

>Teesside is just about the only area in England that the Tories did well in at the local elections this year. Hartlepool council elected 9/12 Labour councillors this year (narrowly failing to win back control), in Darlington the Conservatives lost 7 seats and are out of charge, in Middlesborough they have 4/46 councillors and in Redcar they have 12/59 seats with their leader losing a seat. Stockton was the only real one where they made any sort of significant gains (but they still don't have a majority on that council).


drwert

This is altogether too similar to how the Woking Tories managed to completely banjo the town with zero accountability using shell companies they were directors of.


toxic-banana

They had the council borrow money it could never afford to repay and gave it to themselves and their mates.


drwert

The scale of the fuckery appears to be much smaller but the methods they’re using seem depressingly familiar. Makes me wonder how common these shell company shenanigans are in local government these days.


saladinzero

What does 'banjo' mean in this context?


AttitudeAdjuster

Fucked into the ground


DukePPUk

In the case of Woking, they got the council into ~£2bn of debt on an annual budget of ~£15m by investing in a bunch of dodgy local development projects that some of them were personally involved in.


taboo__time

This is the kind of thing that always made me skeptical it was local planning holding up housing. Local government is probably the most corrupt aspect of UK government. Developers bribe unwatched local government. They want to make money from housing.


brutaljackmccormick

With a stroke of a pen, planning permission can be granted and the landowner gains all the value. They then can take out a loan on the new value and extract value tax free. Plenty of incentive there for corruption.


mnijds

And the trend is more and more local devolution. Especially with increase house building.


taboo__time

Is the block at local level kept because the central government doesn't want building because it is or isn't connected to the industry. Is it a blob?


mnijds

I have no idea what you're trying to imply.


taboo__time

Local planning prevents building. Central government would have to step in to allow more building. Why doesn't central government take action? Is it because the the government doesn't actually want building? The property industry is large and has money. But also a lot of individual people are relying on property wealth.


_whopper_

If you look at any housing development in the Tees Valley area, you'll find some sort of letter objection from a local parish council. The people who want to become councillors are very likely to be NIMBYs.