The Northern Agenda

Four of the leading Wakefield by-election candidates locked horns in a special Northern Agenda and YorkshireLive hustings on Tuesday night. Ahead of the election on June 24, the candidates running to be Wakefield's next MP debated on issues such as transport in the North, jobs and skills, the cost of living crisis and ethics in politics. Westminster editor Dan O'Donohue chaired the hustings, and h...

In a week where 148 Tory MPs voted that they had no confidence in Boris Johnson, the Northern Agenda podcast speaks to two northern Conservatives who came to parliament in 2019 - and backed the prime minister in the confidence vote. As the Levelling Up bill returns to the Commons, Jacob Young - the MP for Redcar - tells Dan O'Donohue how he believes the government's flagship policy remains the pri...

In this episode of The Northern Agenda podcast, Dan O'Donohue is joined by a panel of experts to ask how the Conservatives are performing in the North - and why they perform poorly in northern cities such as Liverpool, Manchester, and Newcastle. Dan is joined by:- James Pearson, chairman of the Manchester Conservatives- Jon Tonge, professor of politics at the University of Liverpool- Liam Thorp, p...

This week's two guests on the Northern Agenda podcast are politicians on either side of the party divide, but each represent northern towns looking for answers about how best to move forward from their industrial pasts. Lisa Nandy and Miriam Cates are both speaking at the Restitch Social Fabric Summit this week - a conference organised by think tank Onward about how to create more connected and ro...

As local authorities submit their bids for their share of the next round of the Levelling Up fund, Bradford council has published a compelling report which argues that the region should be a test case for the project. Bradford City Council leader Susan Hinchcliffe discusses the 16-page document with Westminster editor Dan O'Donohue. And new IPPR North director Zoe Billingham chats to Northern Agen...

We have all heard of the North-South divide, but author Sam Bright believes that the gap is far bigger and covers a wider area. The journalist and author of 'Fortress London' joins Rob Parsons on The Northern Agenda to discuss the "burning injustices" between the capital and the rest of England. He explains why he thinks Parliament should be relocated to Leeds, and how the government has "deployed...

In a special edition of The Northern Agenda podcast we dissect all the results across the North in the 2022 local elections. Westminster Editor Dan O'Donoghue is joined by Liverpool Echo Political Editor Liam Thorp, Newcastle Journal Editor Graeme Whitfield and Rosie Lockwood to pick over what today's results - from Cumberland to Stockport and Hull - mean for our region. Elsewhere, Dan speaks to Y...

Do you know where your local war memorial is? If you do, the Imperial War Museums want to find out, too! A campaign has been launched to document every war memorial across the nation ahead of Remembrance Day this year. The drive has the backing of Southport MP Damien Moore, who tells The Northern Agenda's Rob Parsons why it is important to remember both the fallen and the commemorations in their n...

Ahead of the TUC's Annual Regional Conference in Hull, Frances O'Grady joins Rob Parsons on The Northern Agenda podcast to discuss the state of trade unionism - and her response to the mass sacking from P&O Ferries. Hull is one of the major employment centres for P&O, which replaced nearly 800 seafarers with cheaper agency staff just a month ago. Frances, who will be stepping down as the TUC's gen...

This week Rob Parsons speaks to the author of a new book setting out how the dramatic history of the North has shaped the region as it is today. Brian Groom, who wrote 'Northerners: A History, From the Ice Age to the Present Day', tells us about how the North-South divide goes back further than we might think and identifies three lesser-known Northern historical figures we all ought to be familiar...

On this week's episode, Newcastle North MP Catherine McKinnell calls for more action on the cost of living crisis. The Labour MP tells Dan O'Donoghue that for many of her constituents 'there's really no light at the end of the tunnel', as she urged Chancellor Rishi Sunak to reverse his decision to scrap the £20 a week Universal Credit uplift. Meanwhile new polling from the Country Land & Business...

With voters returning to the ballot box on May 5, the local elections could result in some changes to the political landscape in England. One of the guaranteed changes is in South Yorkshire, where the metro mayor Dan Jarvis is stepping down after four years. The Barnsley Central MP, who will be remaining in Westminster, discusses why he is leaving the role. The Labour politician reflects on his te...

Though the levelling up agenda is supposedly at the top of the government's agenda, the phrase did not receive a single mention in Rishi Sunak's Spring Statement this week. Some Northern leaders have called the Chancellor's mini-budget a "missed opportunity", and on The Northern Agenda podcast, we digest what it means - and what it misses - for the North. Westminster editor Dan O'Donohue is joined...

In our first conference, held in Newcastle last week, The Northern Agenda asked the question: what will the North look like in 2030?Speakers and panellists - from MPs to mayors, ministers to educators - offered their perspective on this topic, pondering what the government's Levelling Up agenda could do for health, education, jobs, poverty, and more. This week's episode of The Northern Agenda podc...

There’s widespread agreement that tackling regional inequality is one of the big political issues of our time, but how best to go about it? How much progress can the North make by 2030, the date set by Michael Gove to judge the success of the Levelling Up agenda? And what role should the government and private enterprise play and should we focus on short-term gains or tackling longer, structural p...

Leaders across the North of England have issued the united message of support for Ukraine, and offered a welcoming hand to those displaced by the invasion from Russian forces. In Rochdale, the Greater Manchester town twinned with Lviv, members of the Ukrainian community joined councillors in the town centre for a show of solidarity. One of those people who attended the vigil was Neil Emmott, the R...

When people think of Northern transport as a political issue, generally their minds turn to trains - and there's certainly no shortage of issues to discuss there. But in this special episode of The Northern Agenda podcast, we're going to talk about buses, the form of transport used much more frequently in the North every day than trains and for many people representing a lifeline getting them to w...

There is a North-South divide - like many things - in research and development. In 2019, northern universities attracted only 1.8 per cent of early stage venture funding, compared to 90 per cent that went to Oxford, Cambridge and London. Duncan Johnson, chief executive at Northern Gritstone, discusses how there is "a level playing field of science and a totally and utterly uneven level playing fie...

The Convention in the North took place this week with levelling up secretary Michael Gove travelling to Liverpool to discuss the government's vision for the region. His counterpart, Lisa Nandy MP, appears on The Northern Agenda podcast, sharing her thoughts about Gove and the recent Levelling Up white paper. The shadow levelling up secretary also tells Westminster editor Dan O'Donohue why she beli...

In this week's podcast, former West Durham MP Laura Pidcock joins The Northern Agenda's Dan O'Donohue to discuss why she has quit Labour's governing body, the National Executive Committee. The ex-Labour MP also gives her thoughts on Keir Starmer's leadership, and why she is still fighting to get the Tories out of government. And Northern Agenda editor Rob Parsons also speaks to Richard Jeffery, a...

The Levelling Up White Paper - all 332 pages of it - was published today after a long wait for Boris Johnson to finally spell out the details of the mantra that's been in use since before the 2019 General Election. Recorded live an hour after its publication, Northern Agenda editor Rob Parsons is joined by a stellar panel of experts to discuss what it means for the North. Rob gets the reaction fro...

In a week where Northern Tory MPs are pondering how much they can stand behind Boris Johnson, The Northern Agenda podcast speaks to one of the prime minister's biggest allies in the region: Jake Berry. The Rossendale and Darwen MP tells Westminster editor Dan O'Donohue why he is still backing Johnson, and gives his thoughts on what levelling up actually means. The Tory politician also discusses wh...

It's safe to say that it has not been a good week for Boris Johnson with the prime minister facing growing dissent from his own party. A chaotic Prime Minister's Questions saw Bury South MP Christian Wakeford cross the floor and join the Labour benches. Westminster editor Dan O'Donohue gets the reaction from his former Conservative colleague, Scott Benton. The Blackpool South MP slams Wakeford's "...

In a special episode, The Northern Agenda podcast takes a closer look at an issue that has reached boiling point in several cities across the North of England: the introduction of Clean Air Zones. It is the controversial scheme where owners of the most polluting vehicles are forced to pay as much as £60 per day to enter certain roads and areas. Political editor Jennifer Williams and local democrac...

As the Omicron variant surges across the North West, The Northern Agenda podcast gives an update on how it is impacting the NHS across the region. Northern Agenda editor Rob Parsons discusses the Covid situation with Helena Vesty, the NHS, social care and patients writer at the Manchester Evening News. They explain the pressures on health staff, the impact on social care, and what it means when a...