Newcastle City Council paying tribute tonight to the victims of the Violet Close explosion last month. Lord mayor Rob Higgins calls it an ‘incredibly traumatic experience’ and commends the bravery and resilience of the people of Benwell.

Of the six Labour councillors in Newcastle who quit the party yesterday to go independent, I see one (Marion Williams) present at tonight's full council meeting. Let's see how the votes go. Agenda includes a motion calling for an inquiry into the council's political leadership.

A bullying complaint made by council director Michelle Percy against former Newcastle Labour leader Nick Kemp will now be subject to a full investigation, Newcastle City Council confirms chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-eas…

A consequential Newcastle City Council Cabinet meeting tonight. Hard to escape the conclusion that the decision to end post 16 SEN transport “to generate budget savings” and the council stepping in to take over Urban Green as it teeters on the edge of insolvency are weirdly connected.

An honour and a privilege to represent the residents of Ouseburn Ward at tonight's Christmas Tree Switch On. Fantastic to see so many people attending what is a lovely event. Especially nice to hear the idea of reinstating the ferry to Bergen get a big round of applause!

Well done to everyone involved

Colin Ferguson Andrew Morkot Greg Stone 🔶 Newcastle Lib Dems 🔶 The central motorway didn’t look great when I ran under it in September - would certainly be good to get an expert opinion in the wake of Gateshead’s issues this weekend.

1/ There is, understandably, some increased scrutiny of the ability of the Mayor of the new Combined Authority's ability to manage Transport Delivery* * Obviously there's no actual Transport Scrutiny Committee at either NECA nor Newcastle City Council. Cont.

Sad that another year has passed without any significant progress being made on the Swing Bridge. It hasn’t swung since November 2019 and it seems a big task to get it fixed in time for its 150th anniversary.

Merry Christmas from the Liberal Democrats! We hope your holidays are filled with love, laughter, and happiness. 🎄✨

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Tonight, we’ve said that Newcastle United should get a civic reception for bringing silverware back to the city. Howay the lads! The Chronicle

Lib Dems are standing up for the North East on sewage dumping. From our local efforts to challenge the state of the Ouseburn to national representations in Parliament, only Liberal Democrats are serious about tackling this scandal.

This is damning evidence of the scale of social inertia in parts of our city. It is not simply about disadvantage and poverty (see the East Ham data) but is a lot to do with the failure of the region's political leadership to insist on a NE version of en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Ch…

Pleased to be able to speak to support the Lib Dem motion on social care and carers this evening - and particularly pleased to be able to commend the inspirational work of my constituent Janice and Kinship for kinship carers locally and nationally.

Newcastle’s Labour council is trying bankrupt well regarded local small businesses with punitive rent rises. bbc.co.uk/news/articles/…

chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-eas…

Excellent weather for campaigning for Jude Browne today - delighted to be joined by Tom Gordon MP and colleagues from Durham for the afternoon! 🔶

A pleasure to have Victoria Collins MP out with us in South Jesmond for Jude Browne this evening :) 🔶

We’ve questioned the Council’s plans for our parks and allotments from the outset. It’s time to come clear.