After a phenomenal start to 2019, from saving Teesside Airport to sealing the deal for the Tata land in Redcar, it was good to pay tribute to our Tess Valley Mayor, Ben Houchen in Parliament yesterday. It was great to hear the Government's full support in reply!

I was on the BBC’s Sunday Politics with Middlesbrough Mayor Dave Budd yesterday. He refused to commit to supporting Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen’s plan to save our airport.

This time next week, the Labour leaders of the five Tees Valley councils will vote on the most significant investment package in Teesside in our lifetimes. There is no overstating the importance of this: what is on offer will be genuinely transformational.

There is great breaking news this morning for the whole South Tees Development Corporation regeneration project, as Ben Houchen,Tees Valley Mayor, has finalised a deal with Tata Steel to secure more than half of all the developable land on the Redcar site.

Happy New Year! Have a really great time tonight. There's a hugely exciting 2019 ahead - please SHARE this post to spread the word about what's coming up!

You can catch up on My Plan for our area here

The breaking news that Tees Valley Mayor, Ben Houchen, has agreed a deal to rescue our airport is amazing, and I know will be hugely welcomed across our constituency.

Ben made a promise to buy Durham Tees Valley airport and he has delivered.

The huge breaking news about the multi-billion pound clean gas energy plant coming to our area is absolutely amazing, and will give lift off to the local economy. If you haven't seen it yet, you can read more about the exciting announcement here.

Today there was an important debate in Parliament about the future of the Mayoral Development Corporation site in Redcar. I had some spiky exchanges with Labour's Paul Williams and Mike Hill towards the end...

There's hugely welcome news for our area in the Budget today - most importantly that the Chancellor has pledged £14 million to prepare specific sites for two major new metals projects to move into the Mayoral Development Corporation site at Redcar.

Yesterday I was invited to speak at the launch of a new report by Policy Exchange on how Hydrogen could be used as the clean fuel of the future.

As the report explains, Teesside offers one of the best opportunities for a successful hydrogen production hub.