Over the last year, politics in Teesside has been completely uprooted. Labour has lost control of Darlington, Stockton and Hartlepool council, lost the Middlesbrough mayoralty, lost half their seats in Redcar and lost their majority on Middlesbrough council; in the General Election, the Tories beat Labour’s regional votes by over 10,000. Going well for Labour then…

Despite the regional wipeout, in a BBC interview yesterday Labour’s Tees Valley mayoral candidate failed to comprehend why being asked about Labour’s collapse was “relevant”. Candidate Jessie Joe Jacobs was asked why Labour has siphoned so many votes. She flatly refused to answer the question…

“I don’t want to answer that one.”

Current Tory mayor Ben Houchen responded with all guns blazing, saying

“This is what happens when Labour parachute in a Corbynista candidate who has no real world experience. Let’s not forget, local Labour members weren’t allowed to select their candidate and this is what they’ve been lumped with. A remainiac who can’t even answer the most basic of questions about the local area.”

Westminster politicos were worried things would get boring after the general election result – doesn’t seem that way out in the regions…