A different sinking ship this time, but Stephen Byers has announced that he’s not standing at the next election. I can’t say I knew him well, and some of his ideas were definitely a bit right-wing for me, but he always seemed to me to be genuinely interested in policy and genuinely on top of these debates. He was a strong supporter of regional policy when he was at the DTI, although he wasn’t there long enough to make much of a difference, and ought to have been better used by the Labour Party in the region.
The question now is who will Labour choose to stand in North Tyneside, and will the seat be designated an all-woman shortlist (like just about every other seat in the region has).
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