Councillor Guy Renner-Thompson seeks Tory NE mayor nomination

Guy Renner-Thompson represents Bamburgh ward on Northumberland County Council

A senior Northumberland councillor has entered the race to be the Conservative candidate for North East mayor.

Guy Renner-Thompson, who represents the Bamburgh ward, joins Sedgefield MP Paul Howell and Sunderland councillor Chris Burnicle in declaring his interest.

Announcing his candidature, Mr Renner-Thompson described it as the "perfect job" for him.

The Conservative Party is expected to make its official selection at the end of November.

The regional mayor is being created under a £4.2bn devolution deal for the North East, which is due to be ratified in the next few months.

The mayor will represent about two million people from Berwick to Barnard Castle, encompassing all of Northumberland, Tyne and Wear and County Durham.

"I'm a great believer in the levelling up agenda," said Mr Renner-Thomson, Northumberland's cabinet member for children's services.

"If we can make the people of the North East as wealthy as the rest of the country, that has to be the aim."

He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service he had considered running as an MP before deciding he did not want to leave his native North East.

"The big thing for me is helping people with housing," he added.

"In my area, people have been evicted to make way for second homes and holiday lets. I've been involved in helping people stay in their communities."

Labour has selected Kim McGuinness, the current Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner, as its candidate.

The sitting North of Tyne Mayor Jamie Driscoll also plans to run as an independent, having quit Labour in the summer after he was barred from the party's selection process.

Other candidates have yet to be announced.