1. Dog walker rescued from waist-deep mudpublished at 16:49 British Summer Time 10 May 2021

    A dog owner stuck waist deep in the river bank at Maiden Castle in Durham has been rescued by firefighters.

    The water rescue team from Durham fire station and crews from Spennymoor were called to the scene earlier this afternoon.

    The dog's owner had gone into the river Wear to rescue their pet Sonny.

    Firefighters used throw lines to rescue the owner and the dog.

    Rescued dog owner and SonnyImage source, CDFRS
  2. Government accused of freeport tariffs blunderpublished at 16:27 British Summer Time 10 May 2021

    Manufacturers based in the new economic zones could miss out on key markets, Labour says.

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  3. North East's 2021 local elections were 'unique'published at 13:56 British Summer Time 10 May 2021

    Analysis

    Richard Moss
    Political editor, North East & Cumbria

    From masked counting of votes to a mayoral candidate getting Covid, 2021’s local elections in the North East were unique.

    But in many ways they marked a continuation of political trends that pre-date the pandemic.

    Any hopes Labour had of a rapidly bouncing back from losses suffered in the 2019 General Election have been blown away. The party’s 2021 losses were often in the same areas where they struggled then.

    The situation in the Teesside area looks particularly serious.

    The loss of another MP to the Conservatives in Hartlepool - Jill Mortimer (pictured) is the town's first Tory MP in the current constituency's history - a landslide victory for Ben Houchen in the mayoral race, and another clear Tory win in the Cleveland Police and Crime Commissioner election bear the stamp of a long term shift in loyalties.

    The area’s remaining two Labour MPs will be worried they could be next.

    Jill MortimerImage source, PA Media

    Then there was Labour’s loss of Durham County Council after almost a century of control.

    Defeats again often came in communities which have Conservative MPs. Places like Ferryhill, Spennymoor, and Tudhoe now have Tory councillors - something once unthinkable.

    Sunderland could be next - another year of losses leaves Labour’s hold looking fragile. The party’s three MPs may be feeling edgy.

    Labour’s crumbs of comfort came through retention of police commissioner posts in Northumbria and Durham, and continuing dominance in Tyneside.

    The Conservative vote rose there too, but they could not break back into the council chambers of Newcastle and Gateshead.

    But the scale of Tory advances elsewhere mean that is of little concern to the party. Instead any pressure on the big winners of 2021 will be about delivery.

    Where once they were the insurgents, they are now the establishment. Voters may give them time to deliver on promises of investment, but eventually blaming opponents for problems in the communities they now represent will be less convincing.

  4. Labour leader resigns over disappointing resultspublished at 12:51 British Summer Time 10 May 2021

    Durham County Council's Labour group is expected to elect Simon Henig's replacement at the weekend.

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  5. Middlesbrough's European odyssey - 15 years onpublished at 12:04 British Summer Time 10 May 2021

    A small town with no European pedigree, Middlesbrough produced a series of heroic comebacks to reach the Uefa Cup final 15 years ago.

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  6. Veteran chief whip among Labour reshuffle casualtiespublished at 09:02 British Summer Time 10 May 2021

    Richard Moss
    Political editor, North East & Cumbria

    Among those affected by Sir Keir Starmer's shake-up of his team after poor election results in England is highly-experienced chief whip Nick Brown.

    The Newcastle East MP is replaced by the Tynemouth MP Alan Campbell.

    This may be the last shadow cabinet hurrah for a chief whip who served Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, Jeremy Corbyn and Keir Starmer.

    For four different leaders to make you chief whip indicates how highly his skills were valued.

    A spokesman for Mr Brown (pictured) said the MP thought it was "a reasonable time for Nick to move on", adding he and Sir Keir had "parted on good terms, with mutual respect".

    Nick BrownImage source, UK PARLIAMENT

    The two other North East Shadow Cabinet members remain in post - Middlesbrough's Andy McDonald as Shadow Employment Rights Secretary and Houghton and Sunderland South MP Bridget Phillipson as Shadow Chief Secretary.

  7. Latest updates from North East England Livepublished at 08:03 British Summer Time 10 May 2021

    Bringing you the latest news from across the North East from Monday 10 May to Friday 14 May 2021

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  8. Four-game ban for Oxford boss Robinsonpublished at 18:24 British Summer Time 9 May 2021

    Oxford United boss Karl Robinson receives a four-game touchline ban after being found guilty of improper conduct against Sunderland.

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  9. Sunderland 1-1 Northampton Townpublished at 14:43 British Summer Time 9 May 2021

    Sunderland will face Lincoln in the League One play-offs after finishing the regular season with a 1-1 draw against relegated Northampton.

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  10. 'Labour clearly needs to do a deal'published at 14:08 British Summer Time 9 May 2021

    Richard Moss
    Political editor, North East & Cumbria

    With Labour losing overall control of Durham County Council for the first time in a century, discussions will need to take place.

    The party lost 21 seats in Thursday's vote leaving it with 53 of the authority's 126 councillors - 11 short of a majority.

    Independents and smaller parties won 31 seats, a collective gain of three.

    The Conservatives secured 24 seats, a gain of 14, with the Liberal Democrats taking a total of 17 across the county, up three.

    Labour clearly needs to do a deal with someone. The Lib Dems or some of the independents seems most likely.

    There's not really a rainbow coalition as an alternative to Labour minority admin.

    Durham County HallImage source, Durham County Council
  11. Labour loses control of North East councilpublished at 10:54 British Summer Time 9 May 2021

    Discussions are expected to take place around forming a coalition with other councillors.

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  12. Labour retains Durham PCC rolepublished at 19:42 British Summer Time 8 May 2021

    Labour's Joy Allen was declared the winner after a full recount of the votes.

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  13. Labour wins Durham PCC electionpublished at 18:48 British Summer Time 8 May 2021

    Local Democracy Reporting Service
    James Harrison

    Votes in the contest to become the next Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) for Durham had to be counted twice before Labour’s Joy Allen could be declared winner.

    Labour looked to have opened a commanding lead over the Conservatives in the contest after first preference ballots had been tallied up.

    But shortly after counting of the second preference votes from the defeated Liberal Democrat candidate began, "discrepancies" were found in the first batch, prompting officials to start again from scratch.

    Labour eventually finished with a combined total of 80,510 votes – more than 3,000 ahead of Conservative challenger George Jabbour on 77,352 – once all voted were combined.

    Liberal Democrat candidate Anne-Marie Curry was knocked out after the first round of voting and her first preference ballots were redistributed between the surviving pair.

  14. Newcastle stun Irish with second-half blitzpublished at 17:54 British Summer Time 8 May 2021

    Newcastle Falcons run in five second-half tries to seal a 52-27 win over London Irish after trailing at half-time.

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  15. Hartlepool United 2-4 Maidenhead Unitedpublished at 17:38 British Summer Time 8 May 2021

    Sam Barratt's hat-trick helps 10-man Maidenhead defeat promotion-chasing Hartlepool.

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  16. North Tyneside Mayor 'honoured' to win third termpublished at 17:06 British Summer Time 8 May 2021

    Labour's Norma Redfearn got almost 14,000 more votes than Conservative Steven Robinson.

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  17. Wycombe relegation confirmed despite win at Boropublished at 16:19 British Summer Time 8 May 2021

    Wycombe's relegation from the Championship is rubber-stamped despite finishing with a convincing victory at Middlesbrough.

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  18. Tories make biggest gains on Hartlepool Councilpublished at 15:46 British Summer Time 8 May 2021

    Conservatives win the most number of seats, but the authority is likely to remain coalition-led.

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  19. Delays in Durham PCC and council countspublished at 15:20 British Summer Time 8 May 2021

    Luke Walton
    BBC Look North

    Perhaps I should have brought my sleeping bag to the Durham Police and Crime Commisisioner and Durham County Council counts - it's currently two or three hours behind schedule with a recount for the PCC due to "discrepancies".

    Labour were a nose ahead before.

    It's unclear what the recount means for the result.

    Either way it's a long day ahead - the final ward count starts at 20:00.

  20. Hartlepool Council: Conservative gains but no overall controlpublished at 15:09 British Summer Time 8 May 2021

    Lee Johnson
    BBC Tees

    The results for Hartlepool Council are in and it’s another huge success for the Conservatives, taking every seat they contested.

    • Conservatives 13 (+9)
    • Lab 11 (+5)
    • Independents 10
    • Independent Union 2

    No party has overall control. A continued coalition of Tories and Independents is highly likely.