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Quintessential example of a northern Brexit-voting left behind area. The flag bearing industry - Teeside steelworks - shutdown in 2015 leaving a lot of discontent with local and national Labour which was seen in having failed to grasp the precariousness of the steel industry in Redcar (which had been on the chopping block for over a decade).
Tories planned it to be the pioneering levelling up project, but then Ben Houchen decided he would rather spread government cash for developing the steelworks (a genuinly very valuable industrial site) to local cronies and now it's a major scandal ready to blow. The Private Eye has some great coverage.
davidvdp_is_better
What's happening with the Tees Valley mayor?
Tories seem quite confident in holding it but I wouldn't have thought it was a big Tory area and there's been loads of scandal around it. How come there is such a big Tory vote there?