Growing anti-lockdown sentiment among northern Labour mayors and councils offer him new opportunities – and dangers.
The volte-face that he is currently trying to manage in seeking to defend a Withdrawal Agreement that he opposed is farcical.
Our initiative will bring together Ministers, Mayors and council leaders, to thrash out ways of building new infrastructure during the life of this parliament.
Hoyle and Fowler are deeply opposed to the move, but Labour voters in the North of England like the sound of it.
The production of reusable PPE in such places as Rother Valley would tie in with the North’s vital role in the UK’s green recovery.
Some of its problems can be fixed. Others won’t be. And one perhaps can’t be: namely, that this Parliament seems to be incapable of saying No.
One area that has had relatively little attention, but could get much more, is the behaviour of commercial landlords across the country.
The party is pinned down where it feels at home – in its new heartlands of central London, the middle of major cities and the University towns.
Hopefully it will be crisis averted, and we’ll have a bit more time to fix the hole. But sooner or later, difficult choices on tax and spending are coming.
What about the impact on domestic violence, with everyone stuck in their own homes? And on those with serious but non-life threatening health problems?
The fact that Darlington station was explicitly addressed in his statement is a great sign of how swiftly the Chancellor has mastered the detail of his brief.
The Chancellor’s measures leave us well prepared to tackle its short-term challenges as well as helping to shape the long-term trajectory of the economy.
How can ministers claim to be ‘levelling up’ the country when they are slashing targets for the North and Midlands in favour of the overcrowded South?