A retired Durham miner has hailed his Reform-led council as a reason to be optimistic in a former Labour heartland today.
Speaking to Patrick Christys in the north west, Dr Brian Brown opened up about the levels of deprivation and disadvantage which has impacted his local community but hailed his turquoise-tinted council.
Nigel Farage’s party took control of Durham County Council after snatching more than half of the seats from both Labour and the Tories, bringing Reform’s total to 65 councillors in the ex-Labour heartland.
“This has been Labour stronghold for decades now,” he told Patrick. “Yet sadly, there is so such high levels of deprivation and disadvantage in our communities that has also gone on for decades.
“I mean, we have something like 42,500 households across this area, and yet only 38 per cent of those households actually live without some form of deprivation.
“So how can Labour, after all these decades, explain that?
“There’s only about 50 per cent of the population actually in employment. Some 32 per cent in higher paid employment.
“There is such low aspiration in this area,” he added. But Dr Brown admitted he had some “room for optimism” when his county council turned turquoise last May.
Cheers went up in the room after the ex-miner lauded Nigel Farage’s party
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GB NEWS
As soon as he mentioned Reform UK, hearty cheers went up across the room.
“On the back of that one of the towns, Seaham Harbour, for the first time, in over a hundred years does not have any Labour councillors either in the town or at the county council,” the ex-miner added.
“I’m encouraged because last month the leadership adopted a motion and adopted a policy for re-industrialisation of the county. Now that is a massive plus.
“And I also know that they are in discussions and negotiations with some big companies, and I think that East Durham will totally benefit from that.”
Last week, council leaders pledged to reindustrialise County Durham, scrapping the region’s net zero ambitions
Reform beckoned the council to “reverse Durham’s decline” and improve the county’s economic opportunities by reviving the industrial heartland.
Cllr Kyle Genner said: “The towns and villages of Durham were built on industry, and that industry was built using cheap, abundant, reliable energy.
“Those things were taken away and our industrial communities had their beating hearts torn out. We know what made Durham great, and we know what led to Durham’s decline.”
Zia Yusuf alongside party leader Nigel Farage
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GETTYMr Farage has previously said the UK should produce its own gas, oil and steel in a pledge to “reindustrialise”.
He and his party, including policy frontman Zia Yusuf, have regularly hit out at net zero. Instead, they urge Britain to become an “energy exporter”.
Speaking at the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (Arc) conference in London last year, he said: “We take the view that if we’re going to be using gas, if we’re going to be using oil in this country from 2050… we may as well produce them ourselves in our own country.
“Our platform is to reindustrialise Britain. We closed down the steel industry. We think closing down the steel industry is good because it means our national CO2 output is down.
“All that happens is the plant closes in Redcar, the plant closes in South Wales. It reopens in India under lower environmental standards, and then the steel is shipped back to us.
“So let’s produce all the stuff we need in this country. Let’s become not just energy independent – we could actually become an energy exporter right now.”
Nodding, Patrick told Dr Brown: “You are quite literally sitting on a goldmine here, aren’t you in this area?
“You’ve got natural resources both under your feet and offshore as well. And apparently you’re not allowed to tap into any of those, which seems absolutely remarkable, doesn’t it?”