Newsroom

Press releases and news from The Labour Party in the North East and Cumbria

Press Releases

• LABOUR SELECT NORMA REDFEARN AS CANDIDATE FOR NORTH TYNESIDE MAYOR

  

  Labour has tonight announced that Norma Redfearn has been selected to stand as the Labour candidate for Mayor of North Tyneside. Councillor Norma Redfearn was selected after winning a ballot of Labour Party members living in the North Tyneside Borough. A former head teacher, Norma currently represents the Riverside ward on North Tyneside Council. She previously was Cabinet Member for Children and Young People on the authority between 2005 and 2009. After the announcement, Norma Redfearn said: “I’m honoured to have been selected to be the Labour candidate for Mayor of North Tyneside. I’d like to thank...

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• "The Prime Minister's claim that the proportion of front line officers has gone up was both wrong and out of touch." - Cooper

  Yvette Cooper MP, Labour’s Shadow Home Secretary, commenting on HMIC figures showing that 9 out of every 10 police officers lost were from the frontline, said: "The Prime Minister's claim that the proportion of front line officers has gone up was both wrong and out of touch. “For a start, communities want to know about police numbers not just the proportion on the front line. And the Policing Minister admitted in the debate today that front line numbers are going down. Over 4,000 officers have gone from front line jobs in the first year of the Tory-led Government alone. “And...

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• A THINNER BLUE LINE AS CAMERON AXES HUNDREDS OF THE REGION’S POLICE OFFICERS

  

  534 Police Officer posts cut in the North East and Cumbria since General Election New official figures released today show the true extent of the cuts to the region’s police forces under the Conservative-led government. The Home Office statistics show that the number of police officers serving in the North East has shrunk by 451 since the General Election in 2010, with over 200 posts lost in the six months between March and September 2011. Meanwhile, Cumbria Constabulary has reduced its force by 83 police officers since the election. Figures also show that 1,010 police support staff have been...

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• Labour calls for government action to help the North's ailing town centres

  

  LABOUR has today called for government action to help the North's ailing town centres. As statistics for 2011 show, the North's city and town centres are struggling in the face of the tough economic climate. Figures from the Local Data Company show that Stockton on Tees, Hartlepool, Sunderland and Newcastle have over 20% shop vacancy rates. MPs in the House of Commons today debated the issue. Roberta Blackman-Woods MP, Labour’s Shadow Local Government Minister and MP for City Of Durham said: “High Streets and town centres are the heart of the communities that we live in. But...

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• Tory-led government's NHS changes are the wrong prescription for the North East & Cumbria

  

  Andy Burnham and Shadow Health Team visit as figures show a £224m cost for Cameron's plans in the region. LABOUR'S Shadow Health Team visited the North East on Thursday 12 January as the campaign to persuade the government to drop their Health and Social Care Bill continued. Figures revealed by Labour, show that Primary Care Trusts in the North East & Cumbria have been told to set aside over £224m to pay for the changes over the next two years. Government guidance, buried in the NHS "Operating Framework" document, will force...

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• Making the energy companies offer the cheapest tariff to elderly consumers in the North East & Cumbria

  

  Ed Miliband MP, Leader of the Labour Party, this week has called for energy companies to be forced by law to guarantee that elderly customers over 75 years old be placed on the cheapest tariff for their gas and electricity. Ed Miliband said: "We’ve got six main energy companies in Britain. Competition should be good for consumers. But the way that the current market works is disadvantaging them. The tariffs are so complicated at the moment that 80% of people are overpaying for their gas and electricity. "And we know who the most vulnerable are. Those least able...

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• £125m of regional funding put at risk by ministers' failure to act

  

  Millions of pounds earmarked for the North East lie unallocated while growth has flatlined Labour is calling on the Tory-led Government to get a grip and sort out the mess surrounding EU funds for regional growth, which is putting £125m for the North East at risk. The unallocated funds are part of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), which exists to boost growth and jobs regionally, particularly in disadvantaged areas. The Government has yet to put in place a mechanism for allocating the funds, following the hasty and chaotic abolition of One North East...

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• REGION’S STUDENTS PUT OFF FROM APPLYING TO UNIVERSITY

  

  Newly released figures show that more of the region’s students are continuing to shun university education after the Tory-led government’s decision to treble tuition fees. Statistics released by UCAS, the organisation responsible for managing applications to higher education courses in the UK, show that over 1,181 fewer people from the North East have applied study courses at University in 2012 when compared with figures for 2011. Pat Glass, Labour MP for North West Durham and Education Select Committee member commented: “Applications to university have fallen by over 10 percent in the north east since this time last year. The government...

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• YOUNG PEOPLE CONTINUE TO BEAR THE BRUNT OF THIS GOVERNMENT'S FAILURE - Wright

  Labour has today released analysis of unemployment figures in the North East which show a 111% increase in long term youth unemployment. House of Commons Library research show that since January 2011, the number of young people in the North East unemployed for longer than six months has climbed to over 9,000, an increase of 4,770. Official statistics also released today reveal that the North East saw the number of people out of work climb by 12,000 to 148,000 people in the latest quarter. Responding to today's figures, Iain Wright MP, Labour's Shadow Business Minister and MP for Hartlepool said:...

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• Families, pensioners and businesses in the North East know it’s hurting, and today we’ve found out it isn’t working

  Hard-pressed families and pensioners, young people out of work and businesses in the North East already know that the Tory-led Government’s economic plan is hurting, but today, we’ve found out that it isn’t working either. Independent forecasts today show the Government is set to borrow £158 billion more than they planned a year ago – the bill for the economic failure, higher unemployment and bigger benefits bill their failed plan has created. Iain Wright, Labour’s Shadow Business Minister and MP for Hartlepool said: “Despite the pain of £40 billion more spending cuts and tax rises the Chancellor boasted about last...

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