Theresa May

Bags, as a directly elected mayor for the Manchester or the Liverpool area, they will have more power than being an MP for a single constituency, particularly if lots of the money is devolved.
The mayor of London has more power than an ordinary London MP, don't you agree, particularly a labour MP.

Where do you live, POGS? Why are you so interested in the Northern Powerhouse?
Things have moved backwards since that post dated 10 days ago. There are now more councils against the idea.

Pogs GO said that cities would have to have elected mayors if they wanted to be part of the Northern Powerhouse.
As far as the north east is concerned, there is a tendency to regard it as a vast homogeneous conglomeration, when it isn't.
And there are jealousies and rivalries between the different areas, too. I don't think that applies in Birmingham/West Midlands, or the Manchester conurbation, but I'm happy to be corrected.
I remember at the time if the referendum in the Northern Assembly, a woman from Middlesbrough saying on the Today Programme saying there was no way she would vote for something that meant she would be 'ruled' by people in Durham. Her horizons perhaps didn't extend to Northumberland.

Imagine how confused I am, Jane, having family in Sunderland, Newcastle and Northumberland, living in Durham and coming from Yorkshire.

Why particularly a Labour MP? Because we don't have a Labour government at the moment?

Same applies t'other way round when Labour is in government, presumably.

So long as anyone who has power can be booted out by the majority who vote, I don't really see an intrinsic problem with a mayor having more power than a city's MPs. Not yet anyhow, though I'm happy to hear good arguments about why this is not a sufficient voter comeback when they don't like what their mayor is doing/has done.

As it is, it looks as if people are getting two votes where previously they only had one.

What about a Northern Powerhouse that is organised and run by people who live and work in the North East and not by some Westminster politician who thinks Manchester and Newcastle are quite close together?

Oh, come on! You can't really believe anyone capable of becoming an MP thinks Newcastle and Manchester are close together.

The 'suggestin' that an MP could think so shows extreme bias.

suggestion

I think it's a very silly comment.

They don't, trisher. They hardly mention Newcastle.

Bags can you understand why HS2 is seen as a link from London to the North, when it goes to Birmingham first, then splits to either Leeds or Manchester.
Newcastle will not get any HS2 link. The trains transfer onto East Coast Mainline before York, and yet it's still plugged as being beneficial to the North. Depends which North you live in.

Anyone think that Osborne will flip his main home to Knutsford now he is championing the "North".

Bags, everyone says that Labour stands no chance of being in power for 25 years. That's why many Labour MPs are trying to be elected mayors. Even Kinnock says he'll be dead before labour gets into power again. How old is Kinnock?

I have met lots of people who were much cleverer that most MPs and who had only a sketchy knowledge of where Newcastle actually is. (It varies from in/near Scotland to somewhere North of York)I see no reason to assume that MPs would have any more knowledge. As far as I know there is no intellectual examination before you can become an MP so I don't think the "capability" can be very great. And I have read much more scathing posts on GN about MPs abilities. Why not real NE people to regenerate the NE?

Maybe a Newcastle bit will be an add-on later.

You have to see that travelling high speed from London to Manchester, and then Citylink on to Newcastle, would be quicker than doing London to Newcastle, all on a normal speed train.

Just moaning for the sake of it.

But isn't that what the councils have just voted against, Trisher?

Can I suggest a 'third way', or that many people not native to the north of England, however intelligent, may not know where Newcastle is in relation to Manchester or Leeds.
But once they have become an MP and it becomes relevant to their work, it is very easy for them to find out.

Just what I was thinking, jane. GO will no doubt have done his homeworkk.

Manchester and Leeds are in the North djen every bit as much as Newcastle, so of course HS2 is plugged as being beneficial to the North. It doesn't have to say the whole of the North.I further wonder how many people can say exactly where Newbury, or Basingstoke or Romsey are ( if they live in the North) without consulting a map, but I would expect all MP's from the North to know.
Refusing to co-operate with anything that has to do with the Northern Powerhouse, or dismissing it out of hand, is ludicrous.

I think I know that, roses, having a granddaughter in Manchester and a friend in Leeds.
Having lived in Hampshire, I know exactly where those places are. I have a friend in Romsey and a sister in Andover.

The North East is not refusing to have anything to do with the Northern Powerhouse. It just gets ignored in discussions.

Jingl, HS2 won't reach Leeds until 2032.
I don't think anyone on here from the north east will benefit. It will save about half an hour, providing the changes are on time.

Newcastle will not get any HS2 link

Something I was reading earlier today was talking about an HS3 link to Newcastle.

This makes sense given how expensive the whole thing is turning out to be: high speed links done in stages. Birmingham first because it's the second largest city, then Manchester and Leeds (either side of the Pennines), then other places further north.

I don't think it's reasonable to expect it all to happen at once.

Bags, everyone says that Labour stands no chance of being in power for 25 years. That's why many Labour MPs are trying to be elected mayors. Even Kinnock says he'll be dead before labour gets into power again.

They do indeed. Most of those saying it seem to think it's the Labour Party's own fault that it is becomming unelectable.

It is certainly a scary prospect.

The quickest train from Newcastle to London is currently 2 and half hours, most are about 3. It takes 2 and half hours to Manchester so we are about the same journey time from both. Can you imagine if we were part of a "London Powerhouse" ludicrous? To compare a major city like Newcastle with towns like Newbury or Basingstoke shows a distinct lack of knowledge about the North. The city alone has 4 times the population of Basingstoke without counting the larger Tyneside numbers. Perhaps it would be more appropriate if I asked if rosesarered knows where Cramlington is-but it's a silly comparison anyway.

So... continuing from my previous post about the sorry prospects of Labour being in power at Westminster, surely it would make sense, if one's a Labour supporter (or at least more supportive of Labour than of Conservatism), to vote in favour of directly elected mayors, especially if a Labour person has a good chance of winning. If these mayors have more power (as stated by djen) than MPs, it sounds like a good way for Labour people to get more power than they would otherwise.

otherwise have.

So I still don't understand why people are so against the idea.

Those who could be bothered to vote, anyway.

Who were, in most places, a minority. As I pointed out.

Shakes head in bafflement and buggers off to read some other threads.

There's nowt so queer as folk!