Tees Valley mayor election: Meet Labour candidate vying to oust Tory ‘golden boy’ Ben Houchen with polls neck and neck

After Ben Houchen won the Tees Valley mayoral race in 2021 by a huge margin, some might imagine this year’s contest would be a fairly easy hold ifor the Conservatives over rival Labour candidate Chris McEwan.

However, a wave of discontent with the Tory government and controversy over Teesside regeneration, the so-called “Johnson of the North” or “golden boy of levelling up” now faces the realistic prospect of being ousted by his Labour rival – a result which would no doubt send shockwaves rumbling from the River Tees to Westminster.

A recent poll by Redfield and Wilton puts Houchen and Labour’s Chris McEwan neck and neck on 47% each in the combined authority in north-east England, which includes Darlington, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland, and Stockton-on-Tees.

McEwan, who serves as deputy leader of Darlington Borough Council, has put trust front and centre of his campaign, with his tagline being: “A mayor you can trust”.

In an exclusive interview with LabourList, he said: “My approach has always been to be open, upfront and honest. I think you have seen a lack of that with the Conservatives’ Lord Houchen and with the Tories over the last 14 years.”

‘He’s got Conservative blue running right through him’

It is with this spirit of openness and honesty in mind that McEwan has raised an eyebrow at Houchen’s campaign literature, some of which seems to say very little about the fact he is the Conservative candidate.

“Like a stick of rock, he’s got Conservative blue running right through him,” McEwan said.

“I’m Labour and even in challenging times I still said I was Labour – I never distanced myself.

“It’s not good is it, if you stand on a Conservative ticket and then [seem to suggest] I’m not a Conservative. For some, that might demonstrate a lack of openness.”

‘People are fed up with the Tories’

Among the people McEwan meets day to day, the cost of living is the issue people talk about above all else.

He said: “I was speaking to a lad who is a bit younger than me, he’s a carpet cleaner. He said I earn the money, the work is there, but it comes in and goes straight out.’

“It’s like you’re on a hamster wheel and you’re struggling to get by. People are generally fed up with the Tories.”

Offering policies relevant to local people

McEwan’s answer to some of the dissatisfaction is to offer a plan that speaks to people in the region, including a joined-up transport system, bringing back free parking to breathe life into struggling town centres, helping local people to get well-paid jobs and investing in CCTV to make streets safe.

“We need to be relevant to local people but provide them with a suite of policies that are convincing in terms of being able to shift the needle in terms of their lives.

“We have seen 14 years of Conservative government and seven years of the mayor where the impact is just compounding year on year. If you look at the levelling up agenda and local government finance, in Darlington we have lost £46 million, whilst there has been a redistribution to local authorities in the south.”

Teesworks a ‘missed opportunity’

On the controversy surrounding the region’s freeport, McEwan lamented the “missed opportunity”.

He said: “Teesworks had, and I still believe it can have, potential to be a net zero cluster that would have endured for 100 years. My view is that it will not be what was promised to government – and one of my commitments is to get it back on track.”

Redevelopment plans for the Teesworks former steelworks site, which Houchen has been heavily involved in, have attracted significant attention and criticism, and one of the big questions hanging over the metro mayoral contest is how far they will influence voters at the ballot box.

While a government-commissioned report found “no evidence to support allegations of corruption” but criticising a “culture of excessive confidentiality” and saying some decisions did not meet “standards expected when managing public funds”.    

In the past week, Middlesbrough football club’s chair Steve Gibson, a former member of the regional development corporation, has hit out at Houchen, saying the decision to hand over ownership of most of the site to private partners was “unforgivable”.

McEwan said the deal struck was “terrible”, and pledged to “renegotiate” it from day one.

More ‘unusual suspects’ out canvassing

McEwan said the campaign has focused its energy on speaking to as many people as possible on the doorstep.

He said: “I have been more than pleasantly surprised by the level of engagement that has happened and the desire from what I call the ‘unusual suspects’ – these are the people who have never canvassed before and we are getting more and more of those coming forward day to day.

“Canvassing can be quite hard – it’s not for everybody, but we are getting more people.”

He also said that the combination of the local elections in Hartlepool, Police and Crime Commissioner races in Cleveland and Durham and the selection of a number of general election candidates have helped the party come together for the campaign.

He said: “This isn’t a Tees Valley mayoral campaign, this is a Labour campaign. All of those ingredients have come together to give us a united and powerful Tees Valley Labour team that is campaigning for Labour at every level of government. That’s something I’ve never seen before.”

Even though there is huge motivation and the polls have narrowed in Labour’s favour, McEwan does not take anything for granted.

He said: I’m famed for my stupid sayings, but complacency is the enemy.

“We continue day in, day out, to speak to local people – and we will do that until the end.

“That’s important not just in terms of voter ID and getting out the vote – it’s what we should be doing regardless of elections with local people.

“We should be on the doorsteps speaking and engaging with them and becoming part of the community.”

‘We could be at forefront of a green industrial and technological revolution’

McEwan has a lot of love for the region he hopes to represent as mayor.

“We’ve got coast to country – it’s the people and also our heritage as well,” he said.

“When friends visit who have never been before, what they can’t get over is the friendliness of local people.

“What I love about this place is that we have so much potential – we’ve got great national assets and good people. We’ve got the potential to genuinely be at the forefront of a green industrial and technological revolution here.

“We’re going to have the potential to do some great things here with a Labour mayor, Labour councils and a Labour government.”