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 Tees Valley is on the rise and our airport is a crucial part of our offer to the world. The response of local Labour leaders says it all: having sold it off on the cheap, and then attacked Ben bitterly for saying it needed to be rescued, they are now trying to undermine this announcement.
They must not succeed. The funding is in place, a deal has been agreed with Peel and we are lucky enough to have an outstanding Mayor of the Tees Valley who understands and respects our priorities and honours his word.
The five Labour local authority leaders now need to get behind the deal and sign it off in Cabinet. We *all* need to tell them to back Ben’s plan. Please do so by signing here: