The Northern Agenda

For the last five days the eyes of the political world have been focusing on Liverpool's waterfront for Labour party conference, its first in power for 15 years.

Thousands of people have piled into venues around the city, from party members and MPs to business leaders, metro mayors and of course senior Cabinet members - many of whom are from the North - and their teams.

Rob Parsons spent two days ducking in and out of fringe events and drinks receptions, as did Jo Timan of the Manchester Evening News and Ethan Davies, Local Democracy Reporter for Manchester.

They chat about the rain-soaked conference vibes, Keir Starmer's personal speech, money worries for the Manchester to Liverpool train line and Lisa Nandy's love of Britney Spears.

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​I​f you're into politics it's likely you'll be heading to, or at the very least reading about, one of the big party conferences happening this autumn. By far the biggest is Labour's annual get-together in Liverpool, their first as a new government.

​A​nd anyone who's interested in the future direction of the Labour party will want to ​R​ob Parsons' interview with one of its most interesting new MPs, Josh Simons, MP for Makerfield in Greater Manchester​. ​H​e's a former advisor to Jeremy Corbyn and used to run ​t​he influential think-tank Labour Together, which has extremely close links to the current Keir Starmer government. 

​T​he loyal 'Starmtrooper' been earmarked by a lot of observers as one to watch in the new intake of MPs​.​ And on the podcast he talks about a fundamental shift in the way politics is done under the new government and his thoughts on the levelling up agenda and what Labour does to replace it. 

And I​isteners will certainly have a view on his defence of Rachel Reeves over the first big controversy of the new Labour government, the cutting of the winter fuel allowance so it only goes to the poorest pensioners.

​A year on from Rishi Sunak's decision to axe the Northern leg of HS2 to Manchester, while giving a conference speech in Manchester, Rob speaks to a transport expert who's helped put together a report on what we can learn from the cancellation of the high speed rail project in the North. 

Jonathan Spruce of the Institution of Civil Engineers talks about how we need to take the politics out of these huge infrastructure projects if they're ever going to succeed.

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Only a few weeks ago the big story in many of our Northern communities was the rioting and disorder we saw this summer, seemingly sparked by the horrific killing in Southport.

We saw violence break out across the country but it seemed like much of it was in the North, places like Sunderland and Darlington, Blackpool, Hull, Preston and Liverpool.

Since then we've seen a steady stream of the perpetrators hauled before the courts and in some instances handed hefty prison sentences. But with the dust now settled, how much do we understand about why the rioting spread so easily and why so many people - often with no previous history of criminal activity - decided to get involved?

Rob Parsons speaks to Chris Read - council leader in Rotherham, where a hotel housing asylum seekers came under attack - and Cleveland Police and Crime Commissioner Matt Storey about how the violence unfolded in their patch, what they think caused it and whether we can stop it happening again.

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There's a definite 'back to school' feeling in the air in politics this week. The news agenda is already being dominated by the issues that we're going to be hearing about again and again in the coming months - small boats, the housing crisis and the ravaged state of the public finances.

It's back to school for the North's politicians too, and with Westminster resuming after the summer break this week a new Labour MP, Hexham's Joe Morris, is leading not one but two debates in the Commons and has been telling his fellow MPs about the banking deserts that are worrying locals in his huge Northumberland constituency.​ He explains to Rob Parsons how he's been trying to fight for voters in an area that voted Tory for 100 years.

Up in York this week, the North's political leaders have their own big event, launching the so-called manifesto for the North, a document setting out how the likes of Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham and other elected leaders can work together to help our region thrive.

And with perfect timing, a new report put together by Northern academics and experts sets out all too clearly just how badly half of our population is being let down by just how unequal our country is, from the moment they're born to the day they die.

Rob speaks to ​Professor Kate Pickett, one of the authors of a new very hard-hitting report ‘Woman of the North: Inequality, health and work’, which finds that women in the North of England live shorter lives, work more hours for less pay, are more likely to be an unpaid carer, and more likely to live in poverty than women in other regions of England.

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The Northern Agenda tries to think outside of the box when it comes to both our newsletter and podcast, and in this week’s episode, our guest does exactly that. 

Tina Catling is a renowned innovation consultant, author, and speaker, who advises organisations and people around the world on how to unlock creative potential and innovation.

She has been running her Leeds-based business ThinkOTB with her partner Mark Davies for 30 years.

She tells The Northern Agenda's Dan McLaughlin about her diagnosis of ADHD at the age of 61, and why she believes neurodiversity is a "superpower".

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We all know there's a big North-South divide when it comes to pay, but which part of the North of England has the highest average wage? Here's a clue, it's not Manchester or Leeds.

With an average median annual full-time wage of nearly £42,000, Ribble Valley in Lancashire is the highest-paid local authority area in Northern England. Its residents earn an average of £14,000 a year more than those in Tameside, not too far away in Greater Manchester.

The Ribble Valley is a beautiful district to the east of Preston, described as boasting "picturesque villages, soul-soothing countryside and warm-hearted inhabitants". And for foodies, it boasts several gastro pubs that are officially rated the very best the UK has to offer.

Rob Parsons has never been and wants to put that right in this special episode. He heads to its main town Clitheroe to chat to locals about why the area's doing so well, the one thing that's worrying locals and intriguingly, why, if everything's so great, the area has just booted out its two Conservative MPs in favour of Labour politicians at the last General Election.

The Northern Agenda is a Reach Studio production, produced and edited by Daniel J. McLaughlin.

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Politicians and pubs are a combination as old as the hills, with even the likes of teetotal e​x-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak turning up for photo shoots a​t​ local watering holes on the election trail this year.

But if our decision-makers stuck about after the cameras disappeared and observed the conversations ordinary pub-goers were having, would they be better informed about their lives and what makes them tick?

That's what Ed Shackle and Bertie Wnek, two researchers from policy, research, opinion and strategy consultancy Public First, have done, spending five days in pubs in Bolton to hear what kind of things punters talk about.

​They tell Rob Parsons why this kind of research brought them insights they'd never get from an opinion poll - and the surprising activity they found in virtually every Bolton pub no matter what time of day it was.

Rob also speaks to David Skaith, the first elected metro mayor of York and North Yorkshire, about his 'whirlwind' first 100 days in the job. Find out what he's doing on buses and transport, housing and whether he'll challenge his own Labour government.

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So if you look at the biggest jobs in local government in the North of England, undoubtedly near the top of the list are the chief executives of the city councils of Manchester and Leeds.

They're roles that come with responsibility for vital services in our region's two biggest cities, leading thousands of employees and overseeing annual budgets into the hundreds of millions.

So with both Tom Riordan, chief executive of Leeds city council, and Joanne Roney, his counterpart in Manchester, set to leave their positions this year, it's a great opportunity to talk about the time in charge, what they've learned and what the future holds for our town halls after a turbulent and challenging last decade or so.

Find out why they're expecting this year to be the toughest yet for setting town hall budgets, how our national housing crisis could be solved if the rest of the country was like Leeds and Manchester, and how the North keeps the lights on in London. Plus: Tom drops some hints about what job he's doing next...

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Just over a year ago, TransPennine Express, which runs intercity services across the North of England, became the latest to come under government control due to its dire performance that had infuriated political leaders and customers.

Installed not long after as managing director was Chris Jackson, faced with some formidable hurdles to overcome if TransPennine was to get back on track, not least the refusal of unions to allow their staff to work on their days off and large number of their staff lacking the training for all its routes and trains.

It's been a challenging year - and last autumn the company had to cut the number of trains it runs on its core Leeds-Manchester service and take part of its fleet out of service to ensure there were enough trained drivers to go round.

But since then, it looks like TransPennine is on the road to recovery. But what does the future hold at a time when political leaders are keener than ever to get us out of our cars and onto public transport?

On the Northern Agenda this week, Chris tells Rob Parsons how work is going on giving the North's rail passengers the service they need and deserve, plus exciting news on the UK’s first intercity battery train.

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On a brutal General Election night for the Conservatives, there were a few bright spots where their MPs managed to defy the swing to Labour and hang onto their seats.

In the North East of England - where Labour otherwise swept the board - just one Conservative MP now remains, Matt Vickers, who won in the new seat of Stockton West despite pre-election polling which suggested it would turn red.

He speaks to Rob Parsons about how he managed to defy the odds, what it's been like as a Tory MP since returning to Parliament and what the near Tory wipeout means for Tees Valley mayor Ben Houchen.

Meanwhile, Rob hears from the journalists behind a brilliant new podcast called Everything But a Beach, telling the fascinating hidden stories of Manchester you won't have learned about at school.

Find out about 'God's copper' James Anderton, Manchester's scuttling gangs with names like the Bengal Tigers and the Meadow Lads, and where local words like ‘ticklebutt’ and ‘arsewood’ came from.

You can listen to Everything But a Beach at https://everythingbutabeach.podbean.com/

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