Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen awarded peerage in Boris Johnson's resignation honours
Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen has been nominated for a peerage by Boris Johnson as the former Prime Minister's long awaited resignation honours were finally announced.
Mr Houchen has been long seen as one of Mr Johnson's favourite mayors, helping deliver on his pledges to level up the country.
Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland MP Simon Clarke has also be among those honoured, nominated for a knighthood for 'political and public service'.
Mr Houchen's peerage may raise some questions over his future as Tees Valley Mayor and whether or not he can effectively juggle both jobs ahead of next year's election.
He has become a more controversial figure in recent months amid allegations of corruption - which he vehemently denies - around a regeneration scheme on Teesside.
Mr Houchen has confirmed the nomination and in a statement said the appointment is a recognition of the area he serves and shows that we matter on the national stage. He said the powers invested in him are like that of no other elected mayor in the country: "As a member of the House of Lords, I will be uniquely placed as being an elected Mayor with a seat in Parliament. The additional powers I will be given to make and amend laws are something no other Mayor in the country will have.
"I see this role not as a distraction, but as an incredible opportunity to fight and deliver even more for everyone across Teesside, Darlington, and Hartlepool.
"Despite what some like to say, Levelling Up is alive across the Tees Valley. We are now leading the way in UK Clean Growth and Net Zero technology, providing well paid jobs and developing energy security for the whole country from the Teesworks site. We have the Treasury in Darlington. We have a Prime Minister who lives just down the road who is committed to the North and my Levelling Up Agenda. We have our own international airport. And now I am being given the opportunity to sit amongst our law makers to talk up Teesside, and make sure we always get our fair slice of the cake.
"I also want to take this opportunity to reaffirm my commitment to my job as Mayor. I have had the honour of representing my home for the past six years and I feel an enormous responsibility to deliver for this area and I will continue to do this for years to come as Tees Valley Mayor."
Speaking to ITV Tyne Tees before the nomination was announced, he said: "You can be in parliament, as Dan Jarvis was in South Yorkshire as an MP and be a mayor at the same time but not where you are also responsible for police.
"Obviously in the Tees Valley we are not responsible for police.
"I've already said I'm going to be reselected as the candidate. I'm going to continue to fight for Teesside. I love this job and I want to stay in this job.
"We'll have to wait and see if the people of Teesside and Hartlepool re-elect me next May."
However, the Labour MP for Middlesbrough Andy McDonald, and critic of Mr Houchen, said it is time for the House of Lords to be abolished.
In a statement released to the press, Mr McDonald said:
"This latest appointment from a discredited and dishonourable Prime Minister, is about as arrogant as it gets. But it’s in the Tories DNA. They just don’t care how offensive this is. They’re in charge and they are going to do what they like. Houchen told the country he'd called his dog “Boris” and his elevation has long since been promised and guaranteed.
"They’re essentially putting two fingers up to the people of Teesside. But at some point, the conveyor belt of the Tories putting their unelected chums and their donors into our second chamber has to be brought to a shuddering halt. That day can’t come soon enough.
"This arrogance and disregard of the concerns of the people of Teesside in this appointment, is a mirror image of Houchen’s own behaviour on Teesside. But to make this appointment now, when there is an inquiry into his conduct around Teesworks, just beggars belief.
"It’s clear the Tories have seen the writing on the wall and are trying to protect their own and are giving their blue-eyed boy in the North, an escape route before the electorate delivers its verdict on them all.
The Lords, based on parentage and patronage is a grotesque feudal anachronism in a modern democracy. It’s time for the Lords to be abolished."
Mr Houchen denies any wrongdoing surrounding the Teeswork project.
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