Houchenism

Th
Discussing Houchen’s achievements is worthwhile and whilst not criticising his efforts or that his commitment to the area there does seem to be some discord between the figures and the general perception of his delivery.

1. Since Houchen took over as Mayor, unemployment in TVCA has risen from 4.0% to 7.9

2. Since Houchen took over as Mayor the number of jobs in TVCA has shrunk by 11,789.

3. Since Houchen took over as Mayor the number of people claiming benefits outside of Covid furlough etc in TVCA has risen from 16,795 to 32,314.

Let’s have a look at the 18,000 additional jobs that have been promised, in the small print there’s an important caveat that seems to be overlooked and that is the potential of up to 18k jobs, the reality is the current scope seems set to create around 3.5k long term full time jobs and around 6k short term construction and supply chain jobs, whilst that’s still great for the area that’s only around half the jobs that are being promised and still leaves an overall employment shortfall of approx 2.5k.

The airport having a link to London is great and it’s hard to make judgements in the current restricted climate of whether that will be a success, the concern is already routes have been reduced and the funding of the deal looks to put any shortfall in running costs onto the LA rather than the operator.

Freeport’s are not a new idea and have been tried in the past in the U.K. with limited success, you can go back to the Anglo-Hanseatic war to show what happens when a country goes it alone after a long time trading alliance.

Regardless of piggybacking etc Houchen has spent x10 more than any other Mayor or politician on social media advertising, so his reach is wide spread but isn’t unbiased.

So whilst not questioning Houchen’s desire to improve the area there is the question of who do we point the finger at for the figures, have the National government botched the surgery and is Houchen the aftercare nurse doing his best with sticking plasters and paracetamol or is he to blame and has the use of his £470m budget failed to deliver as he has claimed.
Putting his success or otherwise to one side the thing that really gets to me about both Houchen and Johnson is that for years any promotion of state intervention into the economy was portrayed as communism, loony left, party of tax and spend, the free market economy rules etc etc. Gordon Brown was run out of town on the basis of ’we need to get the deficit down’.

I‘ve heard that from 1980 onwards right up until the 2019 election of Johnson and now it‘s no problem because the Tories want to do it.

Could you in your wildest dreams imagine that amount of money being made available to a Labour mayor?
 
I doubt you’ll get many fanboy replies to this. Everyone wants him to do well because we all want Teesside to do well there’s just “happy clappers” and “ believe it when we see it” people. And as for the start arme comment from Alzi about living local, if the hag Thatcher and her cronies (ooh look Tories again!!) hadn’t destroyed Teeside then I would imagine the vast majority of us would still be fcuking well living there!
That’s fine and I totally get that, however people not living in Teesside are not going to have their fingers on the pulse as much as those who currently are.

Maybe it is a huge white elephant, however the bloke is presenting a vision that local people are buying into in their droves. What are labour doing?
 
@American_Mary what’s the source? This information something that needs to be considered wider. A progress review is something the Gazette seems reluctant to do - that said this article was buried away at the foot off the app last week.
Teesworks: A bright future or empty promises
https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/teesworks-bold-claims-new-jobs-20514765
I’ve used TVCA own figures so no one can accuse me of bias and the likes of PDA ports and GE press releases.
 
You've managed to get yourself all worked up about something that hasn't happened. Probably best have a lie down until songs of praise.
That’s fine and I totally get that, however people not living in Teesside are not going to have their fingers on the pulse as much as those who currently are.

Maybe it is a huge white elephant, however the bloke is presenting a vision that local people are buying into in their droves. What are labour doing?
That’s obviously very true but don’t forget we all still have family and good friends there working for these industries that are supposedly going to supply “thousands” of well paid jobs. On the other side of the coin perhaps those of us not living locally can look at things a bit more objectively because as I said most of us are probably no longer living local because of our past experience of the Tories.
As I said on the thread asking about saving our heritage ie the Redcar Furnace and Dorman Long Tower, and my answer was preserve them and we don’t knock them down until the Carbon Capture, Nuclear Fusion and Space Centre ( ok I exaggerate but you get my drift) are being built. I for one fear that once they’re gone and everything cleared the excuses will start with “conditions have changed” or “”we didn’t get all the funding” and these state of the art industries will be replaced with a load of even uglier grey factory units so the Tory backers can come and pay minimum wage and best and exploit the great people of Teeside desperate for work.
So far the job Ben Houchen as done with the airport is excellent and hopefully it will continue to attract business destinations and not just the bucket and spade brigade.
But in my experience with dealings in my own company and I’m sure a lot of people can attest to similar with theirs all the Development Corporation and Freeport spiel is just “Blah Blah Blah”.
 
I think those itching to pick holes in Houchen should just pause and reflect on why he won 73% of the vote.
It is not a Johnson success at the 2019 UK election where he got 44% of the UK popular vote and 47% of the English popular vote.
Or Sturgeon's 44% (averaged over the constituency 48% and regional votes 40%) in last week's Scottish election, or even Burnham's outstanding 67% success last week in Greater Manchester.

The Tees Valley electorate have given him a resounding vote of confidence by any reasonable comparisons; no ifs, buts, or maybes.
Just like Johnson, Sturgeon and Burnham, he will be judged on what he does now, but Tees Valley seem to like what he has done to date. Arguing otherwise would appear perverse.
 
I think those itching to pick holes in Houchen should just pause and reflect on why he won 73% of the vote.
It is not a Johnson success at the 2019 UK election where he got 44% of the UK popular vote and 47% of the English popular vote.
Or Sturgeon's 44% (averaged over the constituency 48% and regional votes 40%) in last week's Scottish election, or even Burnham's outstanding 67% success last week in Greater Manchester.

The Tees Valley electorate have given him a resounding vote of confidence by any reasonable comparisons; no ifs, buts, or maybes.
Just like Johnson, Sturgeon and Burnham, he will be judged on what he does now, but Tees Valley seem to like what he has done to date. Arguing otherwise would appear perverse.
I used to be a supporter of Houchen in his early days (took a few slaps from Labour people on here) and in particular his rescue of Teesside Airport which I think is essential to the future of this area.

He first seemed like a mayor for everybody on all sides of the political spectrum but unfortunately he has been hijacked by the undesirables.

Boris Johnson has attached himself, the shockingly right wing Tory media have latched on, and his Facebook posts are dominated by gloating anti Labour groupies and Tory activists.

You claim a big support for Houchen but despite the Tory media headlines a massive number of people didn’t bother voting at all in the Tees Valley mayoral election, there is more apathy or disinterest than anything.
 
I think those itching to pick holes in Houchen should just pause and reflect on why he won 73% of the vote.
It is not a Johnson success at the 2019 UK election where he got 44% of the UK popular vote and 47% of the English popular vote.
Or Sturgeon's 44% (averaged over the constituency 48% and regional votes 40%) in last week's Scottish election, or even Burnham's outstanding 67% success last week in Greater Manchester.

The Tees Valley electorate have given him a resounding vote of confidence by any reasonable comparisons; no ifs, buts, or maybes.
Just like Johnson, Sturgeon and Burnham, he will be judged on what he does now, but Tees Valley seem to like what he has done to date. Arguing otherwise would appear perverse.
As I mentioned in a reply on the other Houchen thread, the bigger issue is why do we know so little about the competition. There was only one other candidate.

I know more about Count Binface and Lozza Fox from the media than I do about Jessie Joe Jacobs.

Houchen has mastered the art of self-promotion. I hope he delivers. I doubt he will.
 
American Mary

Cheers for the figures - its good to use real stats rather than opinions.

Unemployment in the UK has more than doubled in the period 2017-2021, mainly due to Covid19. The difference in the unemployment rates between the Tees Valley and UK has narrowed slightly in that period which some might see as a positive on Houchen's time as Mayor. The unemployment rate is still a high 7.9% which is unacceptable and shows lack of job opportunities is a big issue in the Tees Valley. The unemployment figures also do not show the quality and pay of jobs and they do not show the large number of people on Teesside that have to travel outside the area for employment.

Ben Houchen is not shy to criticise all past Governments for neglecting Teesside which is rare for someone in a politcial role aligned to one of those parties criticised.
 
I think the article linked to in the OP isn't far off, in fact. As things stand.

I didn't vote for Houchen, but so far, even taking in to account his skill at self promotion and a number of issues touched on in this thread, he does seem to care about the area, is hard working, is getting some things done and most importantly, puts practicality over ideolgy. No surprise he won easily. Even if there hadn't been this seismic shift in traditional support generally in the region, he might have won anyway.

This network of prominent Tories in the area - Sunak, Houchen, Wharton, Clarke, Young, Gibson - have certainly worked together for each others benefit.

It would be nice to see Labour with this unity as there was far more ability than with the likes of Clarke and Young.
 
Lefty

I think Houchen would go Independent if the Tories did not help him and similarly if he was an independent he would not get the help from those in London that he needs.

I think over the next 10 years, people will see more economic activity on Teesside than say from recent past. What is critical is will any of that money trickle down through more jobs and better jobs. I don't know, but I see it worked to some extent in metropolitan areas of the UK and in the South East. Just look at property prices and how they compare on Teesside with those areas.

I am not a socialist, probably more a social democrat. I believe that wealth needs to created first then distributed to ensure minimum standards of living for all citizens in a society where all people have good opprtunities to use their talents and hard work. ICI on Teesside in the period 1926-1979 to me was a good example of how capitalism and socialism can work together, Industry and Government for the benefit of both, with well paid jobs.
 
I don't mind Houchen and not afraid to say I voted for him, albeit I didn't vote Tory in the last elections and won't in the next one. I've not looked into how any of what he's doing is being financed mind, so can't comment on that (I appreciate this is not good from myself).

Sometimes though, the benefit of someone putting up a fight for the area, rather than the party is more important, and it might be more important that we have a Tory in that role, whilst the Tories are in charge for the foreseeable. At least if we're going to have a Tory, it might as well be a half-decent one, who genuinely seems to care, and who can seemingly get more jobs and money up here than any of the others have done before him.

I think a Labour mayor would have done good things too mind, and some of Ben's high profile projects would have happened anyway, but I think they would have been handicapped, not by themselves, but by the Tory party.

Better the devil you know at the minute I think, but I could be completely wrong on that, it's a punt basically.
 
Imagine if Houchen was affiliated to Labour. He'd be The Messiah on FMTTM.

I think it is good to see that large parts of the North East (if not FMTTM...) are shedding the little Northerner mindset and recognising it isn't as simple as Labour - Good, Tory - Bad in 2021. Houchen wasn't even alive during Thatcher's pomp. Labour are having to rethink their whole strategy up here rather than take our votes for granted. I don't think that is a bad thing.
 
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