Not so mellow or fruitful - Moss Missives 2010 Review Part Five
The family soap opera of the year. David and Ed Miliband battled to become Labour leader.
John Keats may have called it the season of mellow fruitfulness, but politically autumn 2010 turned out to be about cuts, more cuts and a leadership contest that divided a party and a family.
So let's waste no time and get straight to the action in the latest installment of the Moss Missives political review of the year in the North.
With the Spending Review imminent Middlesbrough emerges as the community most vulnerable to cuts.
One North East looked like becoming five as the region submitted mutiple bids for new Local Enterprise Partnerships or LEPs. Some saw the potential successors to regional development agencies as too small. Cumbria and North Yorkshire also tabled bids.
³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ research identified Middlesbrough as the most vulnerable community in the country to cuts. said its dependence on the public sector and its high number of benefit claimants meant the town was going to find it hardest to cope with austerity.
A Cumbrian union official at the TUC Conference accuses the Government of waging a "class war" against workers. Craig Johnston from the RMT also backs a civil disobedience campaign.
Nick Clegg tackles northern concerns head on at the Liberal Democrat gathering in Liverpool. He says government policies won't lead to a repeat of the 1980s, promising the region help to get through the cuts.
Gateshead councillor Yvonne McNicol defects from the Lib Dems to Labour as the conference closes. She says the party has shown it is no longer concerned about the people of the North East.
The regional development agency One North East announces £33m of cuts. Casualties include tourism promotion, a plan to create a renewable energy village in County Durham and Newcastle's Science City project. The agency's chairman predicts the cuts will prevent the creation of 3,000 new jobs.
The Labour conference opens with Ed Miliband pipping brother David in the leadership contest. David won majorities amongst the MPs and party members but union votes swing it Ed's way. In a speech to conference David asks for an end to "cliques and soap operas".
Ed Miliband's victory in the Labour leadership contest proves to be bad news for Nick Brown.
Ed Miliband puts a Durham care worker at the centre of his first speech as leader. He says it's morally unjustifiable for a banker to earn in a day what the care worker earned in a year. Brother David keeps the Miliband soap opera going by being distinctly unamused when Harriet Harman applauds the new leader's description of the Iraq war as wrong.
The soap opera reaches its conclusion when David Miliband announces he's quitting front-line politics. He will remain as MP for South Shields but he won't be standing for the Shadow Cabinet.
Nick Brown also becomes a casualty of the new regime as Ed Miliband asks him to step down as Chief Whip. The Newcastle East MP returns to the backbenches.
George Osborne promised his cuts would be fair but not everyone in the North agreed.
The Conservatives announce plans for a high speed rail link. Initially it'll only connect London and Birmingham but would then extend to Leeds and Manchester. Transport Secretary Philip Hammond says it could reduce the north-south divide because it could link into the existing East Coast Main Line and cut journey times from the North East to the capital.
Tory boy Archie Manners becomes a surprise champion of the region when he challenges Philip Hammond about the A1 from the conference floor in Birmingham. The 17-year-old hails from Hampshire but had been working for Berwick Conservative Anne-Marie Trevelyan during the election. David Cameron puts the Big Society at the centre of his conference speech.
Middlesbrough Mayor Ray Mallon accuses the Northern Business Forum of being fifth columnists as they change their mind about the Local Enterprise Partnership bids and call for one for the whole of the North East. Former Stockton MP, and Regional Growth Fund Deputy Chairman Ian Wrigglesworth also tells me that the North East's bid for five LEPs is a mistake.
Newcastle North MP Catherine McKinnell becomes Shadow Solicitor General just a few months after her election.
No North East or Cumbrian MPs make it into Labour's Shadow Cabinet. Tynemouth's Alan Campbell is made Deputy Chief Whip though. Several others from the region make it into the shadow ministerial teams including two of the 2010 intake - Newcastle MPs Catherine McKinnell and Chi Onwurah.
Former Darlington MP Alan Milburn tells me New Labour is not dead. The Social Mobility Tsar also warns the Government not to cut education funding as it emerges that university tuition fees could rise to £9,000-a-year.
Defence Secretary Liam Fox confirms that orders for two new aircraft carriers will go ahead to the relief of northern firms relying on the work.
The Spending Review reveals big cuts for councils and police forces in our region. Chancellor George Osborne announces an investment of £200m to help ports in the likes of Tyneside and Teesside manufacture offshore wind turbines. The Chancellor also names Cumbria and North Yorkshire as pilot areas for the expansion of high speed broadband into rural areas. Mr Osborne says the package is fair and progressive but a report by Newcastle-based thinktank IPPR predicts the spending review will widen the north-south divide.
Business Secretary Vince Cable says the Government has delayed a decision on plans to buy new trains. The investment could create 800 jobs at a new Hitachi factory in County Durham.
Mr Cable does though approve plans for two new Local Enterprise Partnerships in the region. Cumbria and Teesside get the early nod. A partnership involving the rest of the North East has to wait.
The region misses out on money for road improvements as none are approved in the region. A plan to upgrade the A19 junctions either side of the Tyne Tunnel is shelved for at least five years, and no plans are announced for improvements to the A1 north of Newcastle.
at Sellafield and Hartlepool but rejects two other West Cumbrian sites.
I'm Richard Moss, the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳'s Political Editor for the North East and Cumbria. Welcome to my irreverent - but hopefully insightful - northern take on reporting politics for Look North and the Politics Show.
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