.The Labour Party and Kim McGuinness if you’re going to try and win an election with lots of paid advertising, at least be truthful with the public. The North East deserves better. Electoral commission and advertising standards have been informed. #NorthEastDeservesBetter

. @MayorJD has a dream CV for politics. Working class background, engineer, managing director of a software company, NHS GP wife. Wow! There was 1 problem tho. He wasn’t in the Keir Starmer London clique. Me on why today’s north east mayor race matters. unherd.com/newsroom/how-j…

One of the great privileges of being Mayor is getting to meet so many different people. Recent highlights include my ‘armchair mayor’ sessions in Newcastle, Durham & Sunderland. Where passers-by could sit down and chat with me about anything. A visit to the beautiful Gurdwara

Loads of people have asked for a graphic to show they’ve voted. 🗳️ My super talented team have obliged - so here it is! Share it far and wide. Remind your friends - 7 hours left to vote. Let’s bring it home, for a brighter North East! #DontForgetToVote #MayoralElection2024

Voted for my good friend Jamie this morning ✊ #JD4IndyMayor

Only 4 hours left. Don’t leave it till the last moment. Put your tea on hold. Go and vote. (Don’t forget your photo ID!)

The polling stations have closed and the voting is over. It’s been an incredible few months. Thank you to the hundreds of activists who have pounded the streets hour after hour, to deliver 400,000 leaflets. The army of online supporters who spread our digital messages across

What an astonishing campaign. I’m in awe of everyone who gave their time, energy, resources and votes. When recent GE polling in the North East shows Labour with 60+% of the vote, most commentators thought Labour would walk this. The fact that we got 126,652 votes here, nearly

Gutted about Jamie Driscoll, but he should be so proud of the campaign he ran. They didn't have contact data like their opponents; they were up against a media ignoring the contest; and anti-Tory fury mostly benefiting Labour. They achieved a lot in the circumstances!

The people of Sunderland just voted for Labour councillors based on Graeme Miller’s record as council leader. Now The Labour Party have just barred him. The new group leaders have been appointed by unelected Labour operatives from London. This is an insult to the people of Sunderland.

On #Radio4Today Amol Rajan asked Anneliese Dodds why The Labour Party welcomes someone who venerated Boris Johnson, but not someone who shared a stage with Ken Loach. For clarity, there was no complaint against me. No appeal process. Nothing. The Labour Party has badly lost its way.

Gotta love headline writers – openly telling the public what you’re doing is hardly plotting. Many people have been in touch who want accountable politicians delivering common sense policies like decent public services and an end to privatised utilities fleecing us. Get in touch

Both feted and gilded, Keir Starmer and Rishi Sunak are two sides of the same rotten politics My column theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

“Stability is change,” said Sir Keir at the manifesto launch. Perhaps his love for George Orwell’s 1984 explains why there is so little in it apart from Big Brother-style pictures. After all, “Ignorance is Strength.” Orwell wrote 1984 around the same time as the 1942 Beveridge

Get your calculator out. Rachel Reeves has announced £21.7 billion of government funding for carbon capture and storage projects. She justifies this saying it will create 4,000 jobs. That’s £5,425,000 per job. What’s more, she has adopted exactly the same plan that was

Rachel Reeves is replacing devolution with delegation: your region will do what Westminster says. Mayors with a personal mandate are afraid to go on the record, knowing The Labour Party will remove the whip or block people for dissent. Political monoculture is bad for democracy. When

Nothing in the budget for the North East. Cuts, in fact – the A1 project cancelled, bus fares up, no Leamside Line investment. Even the Crown Works money was announced by Jeremy Hunt back in March. @kimcguinness has not stood up for the North East. chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-eas…

Today as I close my former MP office for the last time, I'll also be leaving the Labour Party. I'll keep fighting for a society for the many, not the few. Let's get to it- get involved in our communities, build alliances & keep speaking truth to power. x.com/NationCymru/st…

Labour have just lost control of Newcastle City Council, with 6 councillors resigning and becoming independents. I expect more will follow. I'll be supporting a progressive alliance in the next elections.

Honesty in politics matters. NE Mayor Ms McGuinness seems to be re-announcing the North of Tyne child poverty prevention work in schools. She uses the future tense – “there will be” – yet the baby boxes, the free after school clubs, the welfare rights support, were all up and