The Northern Agenda: The North remembers...

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Here is today's Northern Agenda:

By ROB PARSONS - July 26 2022

An eye-catching use of public money caught your Northern Agenda Editor's attention as I was putting together the newsletter this morning. As the cost-of-living crisis rages, should a council in Northumberland really be spending thousands of pounds on “civic regalia” for the deputy mayoress and her partner?

Last week members of Blyth Town Council agreed to spend £15,000 on chains of office for the unelected position, despite managing without chains for the deputy mayor for the last 13 years.

Four Conservative councillors, one Liberal Democrat and two Labour councillors voted against the plans, but the rest of the Labour-led council voted to approve the spending.

The move has attracted heavy criticism from Northumberland Tories and Blyth Valley MP Ian Levy. He says it should be reversed and has set up a petition calling on the council to do so, as Local Democracy Reporter James Robinson writes .

It was a busy night for The Northern Agenda as this newsletter led a campaign supported by 16 news titles across our region yesterday urging our next Prime Minister to keep their focus on regional inequalities and not to turn their back on the North, with the hashtag #thenorthremembers on Twitter.

Titles as far afield as Cumbria, Hull, Oldham and Newcastle ran the same 'Don't turn your back on the North' plea to Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss ahead of their first regional hustings in Leeds on Thursday and asked them to spell out their vision for Northern