Tees Valley Mayor launches re-election campaign vowing to bring back steelmaking to Teesside
Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen has launched his re-election campaign promising to bring back steelmaking on Teesside and oversee an “economic renaissance” in the Tees Valley.
Speaking at AV Dawson, a shipping and logistics firm in Middlesbrough, Mr Houchen emphasised what he had achieving during his time in office, including the purchase of the Tees Valley airport and the establishment of a £35 million investment fund for local businesses.
“Teesside is on the up and great things lie ahead… [But there is] is serious, unfinished business to attend to”, Mr Houchen said.
He was elected as the North-East’s first metro mayor in 2017 with 51 per cent of the vote, beating his Labour rival Sue Jeffrey. The next Tees Valley mayoral election will take place in May 2020.
The Labour Party unveiled their candidate, Jessie Joe Jacobs in October. She founded the Stockton charity A Way Out, which supports vulnerable women and young people facing issues surrounding addiction and exploitation.
Mr Houchen was joined on stage by Rishi Sunak, chief secretary to the treasury and Jake Berry, the northern powerhouse minister.
Mr Sunak, who deputised for the prime minister during the general election campaign, is widely seen as a rising star of the Tory party.
Steel making has a long history on Teesside. The Sydney Harbour Bridge, Canaray Wharf and the new World Trade Centre were all constructed using steel manufactured or processed in the area.
At the peak of the steel-making industry in the 1960s, 33,000 were employed in mills and plants on Teesside.
170 years of industrial history ended in 2015, when the area's last steel manufacturing plant closed. Thai owned SSI UK collapsed and 3,000 people lost their jobs. Steel is still processed at Lackenby.
Asked about the cost of returning steelmaking to Teesside, Mr Houchen said it would run into the "many, many hundreds of millions of pounds."
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