What now?

The people have spoken. But what did they say, and what did they mean?

Where to start? The rise of Reform? Labour being crushed in its North East heartland? Apologies for so many question marks.

Professor John Tomaney says anyone surprised by Thursday’s council election results has not been paying attention.

North East Mayor Kim McGuinness, meanwhile, says Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is on borrowed time. But how combined will her authority be once her new Cabinet members get their feet under the table - anyone who saw yesterday morning’s Politics North programme on the BBC will know why I’m posing that question.

The Cabinet has eight voting members and the next time it meets four of them will be from the Reform party.

Devolution has been working for the North East - that probably explains why business and voluntary sector leaders have sent a joint message today to the new councillors. “There is a great deal at stake,” they say.

Then there’s the issue of so many Reform and Green councillors with no previous experience of council matters taking their seats all at once. That can lead to a loss of institutional memory, weaker scrutiny and an over-reliance on officials.

The sheer number of the new councillors can also highlight flaws in pre-election vetting procedures - and we are already seeing shocking examples of newly-elected councillors whose names should not have been anywhere near a ballot paper. You can expect more of this in the coming weeks

‘Labour lost everywhere’

Those surprised by the results of the elections which saw Reform UK win control of Sunderland, South Tyneside and Gateshead councils have not been paying attention, says Professor John Tomaney

He previously led the Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies at Newcastle University and now sits at the heart of national debates on regional inequality as a senior planner and policy‑focused academic at University College London.

“A year earlier, Reform captured Durham County Council in a near-extinction-level event for Labour,” he said on his LinkedIn. “This is the chronicle of a death foretold. It is the story of Reform’s rise. Newcastle is a partial exception where the Greens won the professional and student vote in the city centre and the Muslim vote in the West End; the Liberal Democrats held the affluent middle-class areas; and Reform won in the working-class outskirts.

“But Labour lost everywhere. Of course, this is a national conjuncture, but it is worth setting the North East results in their historical context. These results ended 100 years of Labour domination of local government in the region.

“Labour first captured Durham County Council in 1919. Labourism shaped the North East to a degree arguably unmatched anywhere else. It was the political expression of an entire culture. We are witnessing the death throes of a civilisation.”

‘Borrowed time’

North East Mayor Kim McGuinness said Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is on borrowed time following the local elections and that he needed to act quickly if he was going to stay.

“People have said they have voted for change and they have shown in this election that they are not satisfied and the voters are never wrong - so something has to happen. I think Keir Starmer needs a chance to turn things around but he is on borrowed time and that time will expire very, very quickly.”

The mayor said that something needed to happen before the Party conference in September - although North East MPs Jonathan Brash (Hartlepool) and Emma Lewell (South Shields) think the Prime Minister should begin an orderly resignation process now.

That’s not a view shared by Sunderland MP and Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson, or Martin Gannon, who had been leader of Gateshead Council since 2016 and a councillor for 42 years.

“Keir Starmer is the captain of a ship in extremely stormy waters,” he said. “He’s trying his best. Changing the captain is not going to help. I think it’s absolute madness.”

‘Interesting’ times

It will be interesting to see how the dynamics of the North East Combined Authority’s Cabinet works out after the election results. The word ‘interesting’ is doing a lot of heavy lifting in that sentence, by the way.

There are eight voting members - the Labour mayor Kim McGuinness and the seven council leaders. We now know that four of those leaders will be from Reform, one from Labour, one Conservative and whoever leads the Newcastle council (likely to be Lib Dem).

The BBC’s Politics North programme yesterday highlighted a contentious subject area - green energy and Net Zero targets.

Mayor McGuinness said she would work with anyone who wants to make the region a better place but went on to highlight the threat that Reform’s “anti-green energy narrative” meant for the 25,000 people already employed in the sector in the region.

Darren Grimes, deputy leader of Durham County Council, went on the offensive and host Richard Moss stepped in to say: “I’m not getting a sense of harmony so we’ll see how it works out in the next few weeks.”

The underscored link above is for the whole programme. The fiesty bit comes in after 16 minutes if you want to fast forward.

Let’s work together

Business and charity leaders have today sent a joint letter to the new councillors urging them to continue with the “strong and growing spirit of collaboration” which is benefitting the region.

“This partnership approach has been key to building investor confidence, supporting job creation and ensuring the region speaks with a clear and credible voice on national and international stages.

“We strongly encourage incoming council leaderships to continue this constructive engagement and work. There is a great deal at stake.

“Our members consistently emphasise the need for policy stability and long-term commitment to support economic success.

“Key priorities include to continue progress on strengthening skills pathways aligned to employer needs, tackling inequality and health barriers to support an inclusive and productive economy, investing in transport and digital connectivity, backing culture and place to attract talent and drive tourism and delivering on the energy trilemma - security, affordability and decarbonisation.”

The letter is signed by North East Chamber of Commerce chief executive John McCabe; CBI regional director Matt Bratton, Dawn Huntrod of Make UK, Martin Brookes, chief executive of the Voluntary Organisations’ Network North East and Katy Scott of the Federation of Small Businesses.

Weeding out process

Reform and the Green party disowned several candidates in the run up to Thursday’s election. In Newcastle, the Tyneside Greens withdrew support for two candidates because of anti-semitic social media posts. Despite this, Mohammed Suleman was elected in the Byker ward. He has now been suspended by the party.

In Sunderland, a newly elected Reform councillor is under investigation following allegations of racism. Glenn Gibbins is accused of posting racist comments online.

Darren Grimes said on Politics North that Gibbins had been suspended however, a spokesperson for Reform UK said this was not correct and “the investigation is still ongoing” with “no decision” made yet.

With so many new councillors in the North East, I don’t think we have heard the last of this kind of thing.

Split decisions

There were no elections in Northumberland last week - but voting in the council chamber didn’t turn out too well for the leaders of Reform who are the official opposition to the Conservatives.

It was the council’s AGM on Wednesday, where members are appointed to key roles within the local authority. On several occasions, Reform councillors refused to back candidates put forward by the group leadership, with other members putting forward alternative candidates.

A Conservative spokesperson said: “As the official opposition, residents would expect Reform to present themselves as disciplined and organised. Instead, Reform councillors publicly voted against their own leadership nominees, with the Reform Group Leader ultimately being defeated by members of his own side.

“The Conservative Group believes local government should be focused on delivering for residents, protecting frontline services, and providing strong, professional leadership. Today’s scenes will leave many residents seriously questioning whether Reform are capable of providing any local leadership at all.

Decisions, decisions

Who runs Newcastle is the biggest question remaining after Thursday’s polling. The Lib Dems are the biggest party with 25 seats - but the Greens and Reform are both just one behind with 24.

The odds are surely in favour of a Lib Dem-Green coalition. Byker councillor Nick Hartley, who has led the Green group on the council since 2024, said: “What I always hear people saying is that they want to see their politicians working together for the city, for the good of residents. There is a real chance in Newcastle now to do that and to show that collaborative politics is not just something you say, it is something you do.”

But former North of Tyne mayor Jamie Driscoll, who became a Green councillor, warned that city politics “is going to be messy” and cast doubt over whether a stable coalition can realistically be formed.

A quick word

Two park cafes closed by Newcastle City Council could soon be reopened by private operators - although the final proposals need to be put before the council’s new political administration (see above). Newcastle University has awarded Honorary Fellowships to Northumbrian Water CEO Heidi Mottram, Community Foundation chief executive Rob Williamson and former NGI chief executive Sarah Stewart. Sunderland City Council has issued travel advice ahead of Radio 1’s Big Weekend at Herrington Country Park from May 22-24. Freight Island, the rooftop entertainment venue at Newcastle’s Eldon Square, is scheduled to open on June 11 and will host a month-long World Cup Social from June 17. Newcastle community-owned music venue The Globe won the publicly voted Grassroots Venue: Spirit of the Scene award at the 2026 Music Week Awards.

Another break

Remember the hammer and the peach from Friday’s edition? It was from a 1976 Public Information Film on road safety. That got regular reader Howard Walker thinking.

He sent this email: “Enjoyed Eyes & Ears this week as always. That commercial break inevitably reminded me of another road safety warning, this one appearing in an episode of The Young Ones (Cash, second series, the one where Vyvyan gets pregnant and Neil gets a job as a policeman) and clearly inspired by your clip.