Eyes & Ears 16.05.25
Your executive summary of what's been happening in the past week - with links to the full reports - plus a few other things I think you'll find interesting
First £1 billion
Where to start? There’s a £923m investment - let’s call it a billion - to build the largest high-voltage direct current (HVDC) cable factory in the world at Port of Tyne.
There’s 500 direct jobs and more than double that in the supply chain. And there’s the opportunity to position the North East firmly at the heart of the UK’s answer to clean energy and energy security.
It is, says North East mayor Kim McGuinness, a proposal as important to the region today as the Nissan investment was in the 1980s.
HVDC cables are essential for transmitting renewable energy over long distances. Global demand has outstripped supply and LS Eco Advanced Cables (LSEAC) has just started a five-week public consultation ahead of applying to South Tyneside Council for planning permission later this year.
Their proposed facility, on 43 acres on the south bank of the river, would feature extensive manufacturing and testing spaces as well as a tall tower for cable stretching and sheathing - and at 202 metres it would be the tallest building in the UK outside of London today.
Port of Tyne CEO Matt Beeton said: “We’ve gone from coal to clean energy with some investment, some goodwill and some ambition in terms of seeing the big picture around the North Sea - this is a great story.”
Second £1 billion
Within hours of last week’s Eyes & Ears landing in your inbox, Chancellor Rachel Reeves was at the AESC battery plant in Sunderland to announce a £1bn investment package that will create a 1,000-job expansion at the gigafactory.
The site, which is adjacent to the Nissan plant and covers an area the size of 23 football pitches, is designed to be fully powered by carbon-neutral energy and is expected to supply batteries for 100,000 vehicles every year.
Four days later, however, Nissan announced plans to cut 20,000 jobs worldwide and close seven of its 17 factories to address financial losses - with no indication which factories would close.
A later conference call by new chief executive Ivan Espinosa, and reported on by This Is Money, provided some relief for the company’s 6,000 workers in the North East when he said Nissan will be “assembling more electric models in Sunderland”.
North East Combined Authority chief executive Henry Kippin said on social media that the £1bn was a vote of confidence in the region’s manufacturing industry and “an important global signal at a critical time”.
Five to follow
The region’s five universities took the opportunity to showcase their collective power, impact and ambition at an event in Parliament this week attended by politicians, policy makers, business leaders and other partners.
Stockton North Labour MP Chris McDonald hosted the reception on Monday for Universities for North East England (UNEE) and said their partnership was a blueprint for the rest of the UK.
Former Sunderland Central MP Baroness Elliott of Whitburn Bay said the five universities support more than 50,000 jobs, are educating 125,000 students, have attracted £200 million in research income, and over the next few years expect to train 11,000 nurses, 4,000 medics, and 8,000 teachers.
“At a time when politics can feel fragmented and institutions stretched, UNEE offers a powerful example of working together for shared outcomes – not competing for prestige, but co-operating for progress.”
Just days before the event, UNEE universities secured £8.9 million from Research England for a five-year programme to strengthen collaboration between universities, businesses and others to drive growth and create jobs. They are also working with the North East Combined Authority on significant support for spin out businesses.
Hold the front pages
It will be interesting to see what response north west mayors Andy Burnham (below) and Steve Rotheram get from the Government after travelling to London on Wednesday to make the case for reinvesting £17bn of HS2 money into building a new railway line between Liverpool and Manchester.
Much has been made of the fact that the issue has brought two ‘rival’ newspapers together to speak as one. Yes, rivalry exists between the two cities, but the Manchester Evening News and Liverpool Echo are sister titles, both owned by Reach plc, publishers of the Chronicle and Journal. They do not compete for readers and they even share the same offer of a free 6 pack of ice creams from Iceland on their front pages.
Nevertheless, the business case sounds compelling and a report, signed by politicians and business leaders, says the ‘LMR line’ could unlock an extra £90bn in regional economic growth by 2040.
We don’t yet have a figure for the huge regional benefits of reopening the Leamside Line through County Durham, but we know that there will also be a significant benefit to the national economy because it will allow more passenger and freight services to run on the already crowded East Coast Main Line between Aberdeen and London and all points in between.
That’s not meant to sound like the Leamside Line is more important or should take priority over the LMR Line - given the potential return on investment and the huge disparity in transport spend per person in the North compared to London, then there’s surely a case for both.
Gap duo quizzed before
The two men convicted of chopping down the Sycamore Gap tree were suspects in alleged homophobic assaults that took place around the same time.
Nine days before Daniel Graham, 39, from Carlisle, and Adam Carruthers, 32, from Wigton, cut down the tree, a man reported being doused in icing sugar and subjected to verbal abuse by two people at a layby in Cumbria frequented by men seeking sexual encounters.
Investigations led to Graham and Carruthers and evidence of more homophobic attacks were found on a mobile phone. Emails seen by the BBC confirm police prepared a file for prosecutors but the CPS decided against bringing charges.
The sentencing of the two men will be televised on July 15.
Get out of London
The Government is planning to relocate 12,000 civil service jobs from London by 2030, closing 11 central London offices in the process. The move is part of a broader effort to cut costs and bring decision-making closer to communities across the country.
Manchester will get a new digital and AI campus and Aberdeen will host an energy campus. Various roles will be relocated to 11 other sites including Darlington and Newcastle and Tyneside.
The Guardian reported that, in an attempt to inject some urgency into the process, Cabinet Office minister Pat McFadden will write to all Whitehall departments to tell them their funding allocation in June’s spending review will be contingent on submitting their plans for relocating staff.
Leader elect
Andrew Husband is expected to be named leader of Durham County Council on Wednesday after being elected Reform group leader this week. Former GB News presenter Darren Grimes is his deputy.
It had been thought that former Conservative councillor Robert Potts, who defected to Reform in December, was the front runner to be leader.
Reform have a clear majority with 65 seats although their numbers dipped temporarily when one member, Andrew Kilburn, resigned (because he is employed by the council!), only for the defection of long-standing Independent Paul Sexton to bring the total back up again.
Sunderland looking up
The day after the football team clinched a place at Wembley to play for a place in the Premier League, Sunderland launched a 10-year tourism strategy to attract more visitors and investment.
Speaking at the launch event at the Roker Hotel, Councillor Beth Jones, cabinet member for communities, tourism and culture, said: “Tourism plays a pivotal role in our city’s economy, culture, and identity. It is a driver of local pride, a creator of jobs, and a foundation for sustainable growth.”
Trade deal threat to jobs
UK bioethanol production is facing an “existential threat” due to the UK-US trade deal, which removes tariffs on American ethanol imports.
The two largest UK bioethanol producers, Ensus, at Wilton on Teesside, and Hull-based Vivergo warn that they may have to shut down due to unfair competition., putting hundreds of jobs at risk.
Their plants purchase over 2 million tonnes of wheat annually from British farmers. If they close, farmers will lose a key market and may have to export wheat at lower prices
Farmer Peter Jackson, a former leader of Northumberland County Council and director of the recently-launched True North think tank, described the deal as a “body blow” to the rural economy.
More student beds
Student accommodation blocks with more than 2,000 bedrooms are expected to be approved by Newcastle City Council today. The £274m development will replace Newcastle University's Castle Leazes halls of residence, which is being demolished.
The university said the new buildings would help deal with an “immediate and pressing shortage” of student beds and the increased capacity would relieve pressure on student ‘hotspots’ such as Jesmond and Sandyford.
A quick word
Banks Property has said it will be applying for planning permission to build around 350 energy efficient houses in Tudhoe, south of Durham city, 15% of which will be affordable homes. Create Berwick has received £510,000 of funding from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and the North East Combined Authority to revitalise empty buildings into creative workspaces. The deputy leader of Hartlepool Borough Council, Tom Feeney, has left Labour to sit as an Independent over concerns the Government has “let the trans and non-binary people of this country down”. A “safe route” has been found so that the 130-year-old Dunston Staiths, which was used to load coal on to ships, can reopen to the public in small groups. Energy drinks giant Red Bull could be set to step in and offer Newcastle Falcons a financial lifeline by taking control of the Premiership club. The company has a massive sports portfolio and a reported interest in moving into rugby. Repair work on Sunderland’s Roker Pier, which was badly damaged by Storm Babet in October 2023 is now under way and should reopen to the public by the end of July.
Magic figures
More than 64,000 supporters attended the Magic Weekend in Newcastle last week with Sunday seeing the largest attendance in the 18-year history of the event. It was the eighth time Newcastle has staged the two days of rugby league matches, with four of the most successful Magic Weekends on record having been held in the city.
The North East - virtually
International travel agents and tour operators can now discover what the region has to offer with a click of button, thanks to a new Virtual Familiarisation Tour from Destination North East England.
Narrated by Geordie voice actor Dan Pye, aka Britain’s Got Talent-winning comedian Lost Voice Guy, the virtual tour showcases the top places to visit, stay and eat for international and domestic visitors.
You can watch the three-minute video here.
Throwaway line
To mark the 200th anniversary of the Stockton and Darlington Railway, volunteers last Sunday embarked on a mission to fill 200 bags of rubbish from the Weardale Railway line. Items gathered included an antique telephone handset, an iPad, a shopping trolley, a pillow and a bottle of prosecco. Unopened!
Back for more
Congratulations to NET, publishers of N magazine and Bdaily for successfully reviving and refreshing the Top 200 business awards that The Journal ran for many years. Around 200 guests were at the Baltic in Gateshead on Wednesday morning to see the new-look ceremony.
More categories were added and the list from Newcastle University Business School and PwC, based on turnover, became the NET 250. Hexham-based Sandco just made it in 250th place with an annual turnover of more than £44m.
Some things never change though - Nissan won. You can see the full list here.
Business bites
Vertu Motors have reported a drop in profits but growth is expected after a strong start to 2025. The company is expanding its Chinese brand partnerships, including BYD and MG, as Chinese manufacturers gain market share in the UK. The Maguntia Food Group, which makes seasonings, spices and sauces for major food brands and supermarkets, is looking to expand its factory at Hetton-le-hole in County Durham and grow its workforce from 140 to 220. The family-run company, based in Germany, also has production facilities in Austria and Switzerland. Newton Aycliffe-based Tekmar Group, which supplies services to the global offshore energy sector, has won a contract for the Inch Cape Offshore wind farm off the east coast of Scotland. Plans by Energy Optimisation Solutions (EOS) have been approved to build a multi-million-pound battery storage facility at the Teesworks development on Teesside. Newcastle-based Vaulkhard Group, which owns 14 bars and pubs across the city, is expanding its portfolio thanks to a £5.2 million funding package from HSBC. Newcastle-based Black & White Engineering, which operates across 18 cities worldwide with over 700 employees, has acquired Irish consulting engineering firm Homan O’Brien in an undisclosed deal. Newcastle University spin-out FibroFind, which is helping to transform how new medicines are tested before reaching human trials, has been acquired by Vespa Capital in a move that could accelerate its international growth. Newcastle's Northern Alchemy brewery, which began life 11 years ago from a refurbished shipping container, has ceased trading after struggling with soaring costs. INEOS Hygienics, which was set up in Newton Aycliffe to make hand sanitiser during the Covid pandemic, has been sold to Middle Eastern-based family office SKG Capital Partners. Sage Group has reported strong interim results for the six months ended March 31 2025 and expects full-year organic revenue growth of 9% or above.
THE WIDER VIEW
1970s ad break
For the benefit of younger readers, Tudor was a brand of crisps that originated in Sunderland in 1947 and at one time had a two thirds market share in the North East and Scotland.
The company went on to open new premises in Sandyford and Peterlee and was bought by Smith’s in 1960 (for £1million!). The brand name was kept and Smith’s used Tudor to experiment with flavours. Salt & vinegar, for instance, was first introduced in Tudor bags before Smith’s took it national in 1967 (and I’m sure the bags were blue - green should be for cheese and onion, surely?).
This advert from the 1970s features a delivery boy who bribes a younger lad to deliver the last few newspapers with a bag of Tudor. In broad Geordie, the youngster utters the classic line: “For Tudor, I’d climb a mountain,” only to realise that the letterboxes are at the top of a tower block (the makers used the Derwent Tower in Dunston) and the lifts are out of order.
After several big money moves, Smith’s ended up in the same multi-national ownership as rivals Walkers. Both were sold to PepsiCo in 1989.
The Tudor ad was revisited in the 1980s with the same character, now grown up, arriving at the newsagent’s in a Rolls Royce. There’s a nice little twist at the end.
The Tudor brand was discontinued in 2003, when Walkers decided to focus on its core crisp range. The Peterlee factory stayed open until December 2017 when Walkers closed it citing productivity and efficiency savings.
Immigration ‘own goal’
Universities and social care depend on immigration. The UK government’s plans could be an economic own goal - interesting column from The Conversation.
Trust Trump (not literally)
Every US president since Lyndon Johnson has chosen to sell their investments before taking office or seal them in a blind trust – except Donald Trump.
The Observer this week laid out the myriad business dealings the Trump family have enthusiastically embarked on in the last year – from crypto to media to hotels to franchising. Forbes estimates that his personal wealth has more than doubled to $5.1bn in the past year.
They didn’t know about Qatar’s ‘donation’ of a $400m jet at the time!
“This is the golden age of corruption in America,” says Anthony Scaramucci, Trump’s former communications director.
It's Steve Rotheram,
John North (from Rotherham!)