'Labour threw kitchen sink at Tees Valley'
I would never dream of taking the public that I represent for granted and I’ve worked extremely hard over the last few months. It’s been a very, very tiring time and I’m just delighted to to get over the line, be reelected and continue to represent my whole my community and keep making things better for our local area for the next four years probably. She’s been a huge supporter of the last few years. Just look at the things that we’ve been able to deliver, whether it’s bringing the Treasury to Darlington, that wouldn’t have happened without him when he was chancellor, whether it’s bringing the Freeport as well, the UK’s first and largest Freeport with his support for devolution in Teesside as well. He’s absolutely done a huge amount and we wouldn’t been able to deliver all of these things if it wasn’t for him. So absolutely it’s a shared effort, but again, I’ll work with anybody who wants to help me deliver for local people and Rishi has helped me do just that. Keir Starmer’s come out and said that he’s going to double down on devolution, which is a huge change. It’s a 180 from what Labour did in 2019 when they were talking about abolishing theirs. Now Keith Starmer saying he’s going to give us more money and more powers, which gives me more autonomy to get on and do what I do best, which is deliver for local people. I think 2021 was a very different time. It was post COVID, it was the Hartlepool by-election. We had Boris Johnson running on a high, so huge national factors involved in that as well and we’re in a different place right now and. Like I said, I’m just pleased to get over the line. I’m pleased that people have backed me. I think what we’ve seen is the Labour Party struggling to get more of their vote out. And you know, let’s not forget, right, we’ve had Keir Starmer up twice, we’ve had Rachel Rees up at least half a dozen times, we’ve had Yvette Cooper, we’ve had most of the shadow cabinet up. They’ve thrown the kitchen sink at this and they failed. And I’m pleased that people saw through that and they voted for me for a local vision to deliver for local people.